Undercover footage of pigs at a Devon farm showing them exposed to “unimaginable suffering” has prompted calls for legal action against the owners.
The film crew said the video of pigs being kept in filthy, cramped conditions – featuring instances of cannibalism and malnourishment, as well as animals with untreated, bleeding wounds and hernias – was filmed at Cross Farm in Holsworthy, owned by WJ Watkins and Son.In one clip, a screaming pig was trampled on and bitten by her pen-mates and apparently died in front of the crew from Glass Wall Films.
On the basis of the footage, filmed across four non-consecutive nights, the solicitors firm Advocates for Animals has sent a letter of complaint to Heart of the South West trading standards alleging “several potential breaches of the law” at the farm, which is part of the Red Tractor scheme, used to mark food produced to a “high standard”.
In 2017, Animal Equality investigated the same farm, estimated to hold 12,000 pigs, and said they found animals living in leaking, dilapidated buildings covered in slurry and forced to lie in their own waste, as well as two pigs with large hernias left in pens with other pigs, pregnant pigs kept in barren, concrete pens without any enrichment, and pigs that had had their tails docked.
Christopher Shoebridge, from Glass Wall Films, said: “We were interested to document how animal welfare has improved over time on British farms, and so we visited a farm where improvements had been promised. It was a huge shock to us that, far from being improved, things were just as bad, maybe even worse than before.
I used to laugh at animal rights activists growing up. They just seemed so crazy. Still don’t always like their methods, but can definitely sympathise with their frustration.
I just can’t imagine eating any meat or eggs, and try to gently inform people about the conditions almost all animals live in before slaughter without having them get turned off by being told what to do or assuming I’m some sort of activist.
The pig industry and suffering go hand in hand. 90% of pigs in the UK are killed in CO2 gas chambers.
I’d urge everyone to watch Pignorant (the documentary mentioned in the article) on Amazon Prime, and Hogwood: A Modern Horror Story on Netflix.
You may insist that they’re vegan propaganda, but the footage they capture is undeniable. Some will argue that they’re cherry picked examples of rogue farms, but the fact that footage like this keeps cropping up speaks volumes.
I’m sure I’ll get lots of responses along the lines of “I only eat bacon from my uncle’s farm where pigs are serenaded and given daily massages”. They always appear in responses to these stories, with a frequency that makes me wonder who could possibly be buying meat from these intensive farms.
And now I’ll lose the 98% of redditors who were with me up until this point: although there are doubtless less cruel farms, these intelligent creatures don’t need to suffer or be killed *at all*.
Between killing a pig and not killing a pig, the most compassionate choice is to *not* kill a pig. Pigs don’t need to be killed to feed you. I’m not disputing that bacon is tasty, but nobody needs it.
If you don’t want to support this industry and contribute to the suffering of pigs, please consider not eating pig products.
Countless times I’ve been told that this doesn’t happen in the UK, even though these kind of reports that surface every few months tell a markedly different tale.
If you eat meat, this is what you support, whether you like it or not.
You ask most people and they’ll say vegans are the extreme ones…
I’m not so sure about that
It’s extra sad as pigs are such intelligent creatures. Smarter than cats and dogs. They understand suffering.
Our decendents will look at us as barbarians for how we have treated animals especially those who have such high intelligence.
‘…..which is part of the Red Tractor scheme, used to mark food produced to a “high standard”.’ The Red tractor scheme is a joke.
It was the plight of pigs that finally convinced me to stop eating meat. Intelligent animals that are inquisitive and form close social bonds with other pigs. On intensive factory farms, they lead a truly awful life.
It happens at every animal business, if you use animals for products and humans are in charge then this will happen
[deleted]
Can only hope the consequences are severe for those responsible and that people do more undercover filming in these places to expose the horrible things that go on behind the scenes.
Eating meat is a part of many of our lives and it isn’t always nice to think about or accept the reality of livestock farming, we should always be aware of where our food comes from and what sacrifices go into putting healthy, safe, well priced food on our tables, especially meat.
These animals are giving their lives for us, they should be treated well and their sacrifice respected.
Don’t buy cheap meat, research where your meat comes from and choose suppliers and sources who do right by the animals.
The sad fact is that this kind of abuse is happening all over the UK every single day on thousands of farms.
Every time someone covertly films it there’s the usual public outcry.
A farmer who refuses to talk to anyone about it.
The supermarkets supplied by the farm will feign outrage pretending they didn’t know it was happening.
Said supermarket will then drop this supplier. The supplier will be told to improve welfare on their farm, by an organisation that does almost nothing to actually check animal welfare.
The supermarket will move onto another supplier, pay them the absolute minimum, and cross their fingers that nobody secretly films the livestock being abused.
Sorry to say, but farming animals on this kind of industrial scale is always about profit as a bottom line. The only reason the animal exists is to make the supplier the maximum amount of money for the absolute bare minimum financial input. Hence why they have such appalling lives. It really is a shocking and terribly sad way to treat the kin we share our world with.
Whether you realise it or not, if you eat meat, you are contributing to the horrendous cycle of pain and misery endured by these animals.
Is this legal?
I’m not a vegetarian or anything but I’m willing to pay more for meat if it means there’s strict government regulations around animal welfare.
but we’re a ‘nation of animal lovers’. until you have to pay a bit more for a greggs sausage sandwich, then the love ends.
I think most meat eaters would agree this is unideal. I dont for a second think pigs are smart enough to be warranted protection from being food. But theres not much need to abuse them before they become bacon.
Reasonable and common sense standards for the production of our food are almost universally agreed.
This is horrible, all farms should have regular random welfare visits. I don’t understand why this isn’t done when it is so simple to do.
This is very sad and all but you just cannot beat a good bacon butty.
I think the majority of people still enjoy the ignorance of not reading or learning of these issues. Obviously no one wants to associate their bacon sandwich to the endless suffering of pigs.
Unfortunately for veganism attitudes and activism in the UK, and across the world, meat and “industry” will never cease due to its size, scale, dependence, support, and economic weight.
I honestly can never see a utopia, in my lifetime or even my future childrens, where vegan activists telling me to go fuck myself ultimately sway the mindset of the world to finally change.
This is why in the past 5 years i haven’t bought supermarket meat. I’m lucky enough to live rurally where my butchers is run by the local farmer, I can walk through the fields and see how well treated the livestock is.
Is it way more expensive? Yes, but I just eat meat less often, and it becomes how we traditionally treated meat as a luxury.
Whenever I see someone shouting about how vegetarians are ruining farmers I think “No, this behaviour is”. Turn your fury at your industry colleagues because their practices are making us think eating meat isn’t worth it.
I’m veggie and I think I have to try again to go vegan.
It’s a shame to see pigs treated this way, gives a black eye to those that look after the animals well.
If you think this is bad, pop over to china, to their world record breaking pig farm.
The left: We need more regulation on food production.
Also the left: Food is so expensive, people can’t afford to eat.
A lot of vegans using this as a soapbox I guess. I don’t think you will find anyone that thinks this is acceptable, it’s perfectly fine to eat meat if the animal wasn’t tortured and forced to live in hell on Earth for its entire life.
The UK is one of the easiest countries to go plant based, I don’t understand why people even eat meat here unless you have multiple severe food allergies or something
I feel like what all these animal rights activists are missing, I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or being super focused on this stuff, if it keeps on happening like they say, then why isn’t there regulations to stop it? now I’m not too knowledgeable in law, so
A there is regulations but they’re not being applied, Seems like an issue a lot of the UK is currently suffering from, for example sewerage companies, building companies, and so on and so forth, so it seems more like a problem of just Plain old corruption, then surely the best way to fix it is to go after the corruption and prevent it from happening.
B there isn’t any laws against it, then surely the best way would be to campaign the government to change the laws, but I haven’t seen any draft regulations or proposals, because it seems like the majority of campaigning is to stop people eating meat. versus bringing regulations to improve the lives of animals, now if their cause is all about stopping suffering which one is more effective, no meat or better lives?
25 comments
Undercover footage of pigs at a Devon farm showing them exposed to “unimaginable suffering” has prompted calls for legal action against the owners.
The film crew said the video of pigs being kept in filthy, cramped conditions – featuring instances of cannibalism and malnourishment, as well as animals with untreated, bleeding wounds and hernias – was filmed at Cross Farm in Holsworthy, owned by WJ Watkins and Son.In one clip, a screaming pig was trampled on and bitten by her pen-mates and apparently died in front of the crew from Glass Wall Films.
On the basis of the footage, filmed across four non-consecutive nights, the solicitors firm Advocates for Animals has sent a letter of complaint to Heart of the South West trading standards alleging “several potential breaches of the law” at the farm, which is part of the Red Tractor scheme, used to mark food produced to a “high standard”.
In 2017, Animal Equality investigated the same farm, estimated to hold 12,000 pigs, and said they found animals living in leaking, dilapidated buildings covered in slurry and forced to lie in their own waste, as well as two pigs with large hernias left in pens with other pigs, pregnant pigs kept in barren, concrete pens without any enrichment, and pigs that had had their tails docked.
Christopher Shoebridge, from Glass Wall Films, said: “We were interested to document how animal welfare has improved over time on British farms, and so we visited a farm where improvements had been promised. It was a huge shock to us that, far from being improved, things were just as bad, maybe even worse than before.
I used to laugh at animal rights activists growing up. They just seemed so crazy. Still don’t always like their methods, but can definitely sympathise with their frustration.
I just can’t imagine eating any meat or eggs, and try to gently inform people about the conditions almost all animals live in before slaughter without having them get turned off by being told what to do or assuming I’m some sort of activist.
The pig industry and suffering go hand in hand. 90% of pigs in the UK are killed in CO2 gas chambers.
I’d urge everyone to watch Pignorant (the documentary mentioned in the article) on Amazon Prime, and Hogwood: A Modern Horror Story on Netflix.
You may insist that they’re vegan propaganda, but the footage they capture is undeniable. Some will argue that they’re cherry picked examples of rogue farms, but the fact that footage like this keeps cropping up speaks volumes.
I’m sure I’ll get lots of responses along the lines of “I only eat bacon from my uncle’s farm where pigs are serenaded and given daily massages”. They always appear in responses to these stories, with a frequency that makes me wonder who could possibly be buying meat from these intensive farms.
And now I’ll lose the 98% of redditors who were with me up until this point: although there are doubtless less cruel farms, these intelligent creatures don’t need to suffer or be killed *at all*.
Between killing a pig and not killing a pig, the most compassionate choice is to *not* kill a pig. Pigs don’t need to be killed to feed you. I’m not disputing that bacon is tasty, but nobody needs it.
If you don’t want to support this industry and contribute to the suffering of pigs, please consider not eating pig products.
Countless times I’ve been told that this doesn’t happen in the UK, even though these kind of reports that surface every few months tell a markedly different tale.
If you eat meat, this is what you support, whether you like it or not.
You ask most people and they’ll say vegans are the extreme ones…
I’m not so sure about that
It’s extra sad as pigs are such intelligent creatures. Smarter than cats and dogs. They understand suffering.
Our decendents will look at us as barbarians for how we have treated animals especially those who have such high intelligence.
‘…..which is part of the Red Tractor scheme, used to mark food produced to a “high standard”.’ The Red tractor scheme is a joke.
It was the plight of pigs that finally convinced me to stop eating meat. Intelligent animals that are inquisitive and form close social bonds with other pigs. On intensive factory farms, they lead a truly awful life.
It happens at every animal business, if you use animals for products and humans are in charge then this will happen
[deleted]
Can only hope the consequences are severe for those responsible and that people do more undercover filming in these places to expose the horrible things that go on behind the scenes.
Eating meat is a part of many of our lives and it isn’t always nice to think about or accept the reality of livestock farming, we should always be aware of where our food comes from and what sacrifices go into putting healthy, safe, well priced food on our tables, especially meat.
These animals are giving their lives for us, they should be treated well and their sacrifice respected.
Don’t buy cheap meat, research where your meat comes from and choose suppliers and sources who do right by the animals.
The sad fact is that this kind of abuse is happening all over the UK every single day on thousands of farms.
Every time someone covertly films it there’s the usual public outcry.
A farmer who refuses to talk to anyone about it.
The supermarkets supplied by the farm will feign outrage pretending they didn’t know it was happening.
Said supermarket will then drop this supplier. The supplier will be told to improve welfare on their farm, by an organisation that does almost nothing to actually check animal welfare.
The supermarket will move onto another supplier, pay them the absolute minimum, and cross their fingers that nobody secretly films the livestock being abused.
Sorry to say, but farming animals on this kind of industrial scale is always about profit as a bottom line. The only reason the animal exists is to make the supplier the maximum amount of money for the absolute bare minimum financial input. Hence why they have such appalling lives. It really is a shocking and terribly sad way to treat the kin we share our world with.
Whether you realise it or not, if you eat meat, you are contributing to the horrendous cycle of pain and misery endured by these animals.
Is this legal?
I’m not a vegetarian or anything but I’m willing to pay more for meat if it means there’s strict government regulations around animal welfare.
but we’re a ‘nation of animal lovers’. until you have to pay a bit more for a greggs sausage sandwich, then the love ends.
I think most meat eaters would agree this is unideal. I dont for a second think pigs are smart enough to be warranted protection from being food. But theres not much need to abuse them before they become bacon.
Reasonable and common sense standards for the production of our food are almost universally agreed.
This is horrible, all farms should have regular random welfare visits. I don’t understand why this isn’t done when it is so simple to do.
This is very sad and all but you just cannot beat a good bacon butty.
I think the majority of people still enjoy the ignorance of not reading or learning of these issues. Obviously no one wants to associate their bacon sandwich to the endless suffering of pigs.
Unfortunately for veganism attitudes and activism in the UK, and across the world, meat and “industry” will never cease due to its size, scale, dependence, support, and economic weight.
I honestly can never see a utopia, in my lifetime or even my future childrens, where vegan activists telling me to go fuck myself ultimately sway the mindset of the world to finally change.
This is why in the past 5 years i haven’t bought supermarket meat. I’m lucky enough to live rurally where my butchers is run by the local farmer, I can walk through the fields and see how well treated the livestock is.
Is it way more expensive? Yes, but I just eat meat less often, and it becomes how we traditionally treated meat as a luxury.
Whenever I see someone shouting about how vegetarians are ruining farmers I think “No, this behaviour is”. Turn your fury at your industry colleagues because their practices are making us think eating meat isn’t worth it.
I’m veggie and I think I have to try again to go vegan.
It’s a shame to see pigs treated this way, gives a black eye to those that look after the animals well.
If you think this is bad, pop over to china, to their world record breaking pig farm.
The left: We need more regulation on food production.
Also the left: Food is so expensive, people can’t afford to eat.
A lot of vegans using this as a soapbox I guess. I don’t think you will find anyone that thinks this is acceptable, it’s perfectly fine to eat meat if the animal wasn’t tortured and forced to live in hell on Earth for its entire life.
The UK is one of the easiest countries to go plant based, I don’t understand why people even eat meat here unless you have multiple severe food allergies or something
I feel like what all these animal rights activists are missing, I’m not sure if it’s on purpose or being super focused on this stuff, if it keeps on happening like they say, then why isn’t there regulations to stop it? now I’m not too knowledgeable in law, so
A there is regulations but they’re not being applied, Seems like an issue a lot of the UK is currently suffering from, for example sewerage companies, building companies, and so on and so forth, so it seems more like a problem of just Plain old corruption, then surely the best way to fix it is to go after the corruption and prevent it from happening.
B there isn’t any laws against it, then surely the best way would be to campaign the government to change the laws, but I haven’t seen any draft regulations or proposals, because it seems like the majority of campaigning is to stop people eating meat. versus bringing regulations to improve the lives of animals, now if their cause is all about stopping suffering which one is more effective, no meat or better lives?