Rotting corpses and animal abuse

Viva! Campaigns, the UK’s leading vegan campaigning group, has released disturbing footage from their latest undercover investigation into two British pig farms.

The investigations took place over the course of three weeks, using hidden cameras to reveal the atrocities taking place inside the farms’ sheds. Harrowing images from the investigation can be viewed here.

The farms in question, Calvesley (a breeding facility) and Whiteshoot (a fattening and finishing centre), are owned Winterbrook Farm Partners and supply British supermarket giant, Morrisons. Both farms are approved by the consumer assurance scheme Red Tractor, which claims that all of their farmers' animals have been "well cared for".

Pain

Having been provided evidence from the investigation, a spokesperson for Red Tractor said: ''We were very disappointed by some of the images in the footage.

''Protecting animal health and welfare is one of our top priorities. Red Tractor requires all members to meet every standard, every day and take any allegations of breaches seriously.

"We immediately launched an investigation and as a result the farms' Red Tractor Certification have been suspended and sanctions put in place to address the issues raised through this process."

Hidden footage captured at these farms reveals a catalogue of disturbing scenes. At Whiteshoot Farm, investigators discovered a piglet with an enormous growth on its stomach, dumped in a gangway and writhing in pain. The animal had been abandoned, left alone to suffer a slow, painful death.

The team stumbled upon an entire shed of sick animals – victims of bullying, cannibalism and common pig farm ailments like prolapses. Animals contained in the segregated pens were covered in lacerations and bites, injuries inflicted on them by other pigs who are driven to insanity by the barren environment.

Brutality 

Calvesley Farm revealed much worse.

One of the most distressing scenes captured by Viva! Campaigns shows a farm worker ‘knocking’ young piglets – killing  them by slamming their heads onto the concrete floor. A cruel act which is followed by the worker dumping the bodies aside – presumably because these animals were considered too small to be profitable.

This breeding unit is home to hundreds of female pigs who are routinely impregnated and forced to birth countless litters of piglets. The farm produces on average 400 piglets a week.

During each pregnancy these sows are confined to a barbaric farrowing crate for five weeks, four of which are after she gives birth, restricting her natural maternal instincts to physically bond with her young. These cages are widely used on British factory farms and are entirely legal. 

Hidden cameras reveal workers on-site carrying out routine mutilations. Each newborn piglet is pulled from its stall and thrown into a metal trough. Investigators captured workers using a hot knife to slice the piglets’ tails back to a bleeding stump and a pair of pliers to clip away their teeth – all without pain relief. These cruel acts are to prevent tail biting, a behaviour that manifests from distress and lack of stimulation.

Incineration 

At Calvesley Farm, hidden away in an open-ended shed is a large incinerator. A common sight on factory farms, incinerators are used to dispose of dead animals – sows will be culled when they fail to produce adequate litters while sick animals will also be killed.

The investigation reveals workers at Calvesley Farm cramming corpses into the furnace, including sows, piglets and afterbirth. Piles of dead piglets surround the furnace, some in empty feed sacks covered in maggots and others dumped on the ashes of previous burns – with the door left wide open.

These practices are in complete violation of the government’s guidance on how to handle ‘fallen stock’, which states: "While waiting for your fallen stock to be collected, you must ensure that animals and birds cannot access the carcass."

Piglet corpses were also found strewn across the entrance to the old farrowing house, making them easily accessible for wild animals such as pheasants and foxes to eat.

Infections

On factory farms like Calvesley and Whiteshoot, animals are crammed together in appalling conditions, allowing for infections to spread and mutate with ease.

This makes for a shocking discovery at the best of times, but in the midst of a global pandemic behaviour like this is deeply concerning.

Juliet Gellatley, founder and director of Viva!, said: “Our team witnessed appalling conditions in this investigation, documenting the systematic abuse of farmed pigs, whose short lives are filled with nothing but misery and pain.

"This investigation reiterates the fact that supermarket welfare claims and regulatory bodies such as Red Tractor are nothing but a façade for the horrendous, brutal and cruel reality of intensive factory farming in this country.

"These are not aberrant farms – they are typical of what is permitted by government and retailers. I think the customers of Morrisons will be disgusted to see the conditions on these farms."

Welfare

She added: "Not only do factory farms raise serious welfare concerns, they also create an ideal environment for mutating viruses and antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

"In fact, most governments thought the next pandemic would be caused by an avian influenza (bird flu) virus emerging from poultry or pigs.

"Our relationship with animals can no longer be just focussed on exploitation. The way meat is produced is now considered to be a global threat. It’s not just a case of banning wet markets, although that can’t come soon enough. We need to stop factory farming too and are calling on consumers to choose vegan.”

This Author 

Brendan Montague is editor of The Ecologist. This article is based on a press release from Viva!