Undercover footage has revealed over-crowded pigs cannibalising the rotting carcasses of other hogs in a shocking expose of factory farming.
Shocking footage of the swine munching on the dead flesh of other pigs was shot by animal rights’ activists at a pork farm.
The remains of piglets, riddled with maggots and slung in a skip to decompose, were caught on camera along with two skulls found in pig pens.
Sick animals were left with the remains of dead pigs, contrary to farming guidelines, activists from vegan charity Viva! claim.
The conditions at Hogwood Farm, near Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks., which houses up to 15,000 pigs, have since been reported to the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA).
Activist group Viva! carried out the investigation into mass pig farming, and founder Juliet Gellatley descibed it as a “surreal vision of hell.”
She said: “Many were covered in lacerations and all were smeared in filth.
“In another shed, pigs were kept in groups in bare concrete cells with slatted wooden gangways. There was the cynical addition of a chain with plastic sheathing for biting hung limply, its novelty value long gone.
“This is to meet the government’s pathetic recommendations on ‘environmental enrichment’.
“No straw, no bedding, just harsh, soiled floors, concrete walls and a life filled with utter boredom, frustration and no outlet for those active, intelligent, inquisitive minds.
“I believe anyone with a heart seeing the state of the animals in today’s modern farms would want factory farming to end. Hogwood Farm typifies large-scale institutionalised cruelty, sanctioned by government and it must end.”
Guidelines from DEFRA – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – and the Farm Animal Welfare Council say dead animals should be swiftly removed and diseased ones isolated.
But in the footage obtained by Viva!, dead pigs were either left in pens to be consumed by other livestock or discarded in skips.
Farmer Brian Hobill, who owns Hogwood Farm, said there had been “shortcomings” on removing dead animals, but said some of the footage was “fabricated.”
He said: “The care of our animals is our top priority.
“These pictures taken by Juliet Gellatley, leader of an extremist vegan group, do not represent the general health of the animals on the farm.
“There does appear to be shortcomings on deadstock removal. However, we will review our policies and ensure these are followed.
“These pictures taken by Juliet Gellatley, leader of an extremist vegan group, do not represent the general health of the animals on the farm.
“There does appear to be shortcomings on deadstock removal. However, we will review our policies and ensure these are followed.”
