Supermarkets suspend Red Tractor farm Willerby Wold Piggeries after Surge investigation reveals shocking footage
Footage obtained by investigators working for Surge of a pig farm near Scarborough, UK, has revealed shocking levels of suffering, injuries and flagrant disregard for animal welfare by workers, prompting several leading UK supermarkets and Red Tractor to drop the farm.
News of the investigation was released in an exclusive by the Independent newspaper today, which uncovered the link between Willerby Wold Piggeries Limited and Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. A spokesperson for assurance scheme Red Tractor said that were “shocked” by the footage and had terminated the farm’s membership.
The footage was also sent directly to the RSPCA national control centre and a case number provided to the Independent.
“This footage is very distressing. We are concerned that there appears to be violations of the laws in place to protect animal welfare on farms. It appears to show disturbing scenes where sick, dying and dead animals are worried at by other pigs, and a lack of enrichment and bedding,” an RSPCA spokesperson said. “As soon as we received the footage, we contacted the Animal Plant and Health Agency (APHA) to urge them to look into this as soon as possible and take action.”
Swine veterinarian Dr Alice Brough, a former auditor for Red Tractor, on reviewing the footage described it as some of the most shocking she had ever seen:
“This is among some of the most harrowing footage I have seen captured in the UK. Unfortunately, the serious health and welfare issues on this farm are not unique, and they reflect much wider concerns across the industry. Crippling lameness and longstanding infections can be seen in abundance, exacerbated by the heinous conditions in which the pigs are forced to live. Tails are chewed out of stress, despite all pigs having been mutilated at birth to shorten them.
“The stockpeople display a monstrous disregard for the sentient animals under their care, ignoring the sick and dying, and kicking paralysed pigs that cannot get away. The unit is squalid, the pigs riddled with disease, and the many dead are left to rot in pens with the living; this is the sort of place that will produce our next pandemic.”
Among the issues identified include:
Extremely high incidence of ulcerated umbilical hernia, severe lameness and joint infection and possible evidence of enteric disease, respiratory disease, and chronic systemic disease in pigs throughout (further evidenced by the high mortality).
Signs of fighting and vice behaviours, shown by extensive body and scrotal bite wounds, and severe tail and ear biting. The tail biting is despite short docked tails.
In some cases, it appears that pigs have been left days to weeks with deteriorating untreatable issues.
Wholly inadequate provision of ‘hospital’ accommodation. Pigs with wounds or lameness should be housed on clean straw bedding or rubber matting with easy access to food and water.
Euthanasia of suffering or untreatable pigs is not performed in a timely fashion, if at all.
Rats and flies both spread disease, and dead animals left exposed there is a risk of wild animals coming into contact with domestic pathogens.
A stockperson kicks a pig that is screaming and unable to walk the full length of the corridor, with no attempt to assist or lift the hind quarters. He kicks another in the face shortly after. He drags a possibly live pig the length of the corridor for an unclear reason (he is not going towards the door where all other dead pigs have been dragged). He flips one pig around by the ears; the pig is marked so is presumably sick or injured, also evidenced by the pig’s inability to evade this abuse.
No food or water provided to sick or injured pigs left in passageways. Immobile, moribund pigs are left to die without the ability to access food or water.
Ed Winters, co-director of Surge, said of the footage:
“What investigators have documented here is yet another example that animal cruelty is not a rarity on farms, but is instead the norm. Time and time again we are told that these investigations are bad apples and that they don’t represent the reality of animal farming, however by now undercover investigations have exposed cruelty on countless farms that are RSPCA Assured and Red Tractor certified - even farms owned by people holding the most senior positions of the largest farming organisations such as the NFU and Quality Meat Scotland. At some point we have to recognise that these are not just bad apples but that the entire tree is rotten. The only way to end cruelty to animals is to be vegan.”
According to photographs and reviews tagged to Willerby Wold Piggeries Ltd. on Google Maps, the farm may also have provided land to host a local music festival called ‘Staxtonbury’. While the location of past Staxtobury festivals is not readily available, reviews on Google appear to link them.
Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.
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