UK PIG FARMING:
2021 Major Supermarket Supplier Willerby Wold Piggeries Exposed
Pigs at Red Tractor-certified Willerby Wold Piggeries in Staxton near Scarborough were found living in squalid conditions where severe injuries, prolonged suffering and rotting carcasses were found throughout. | Photo: Surge
INVESTIGATION RELEASE: 6TH JUNE 2021
BREAKING SURGE INVESTIGATION RELEASED IN THE INDEPENDENT EXCLUSIVE.
If you buy bacon, ham, or sausages in UK supermarkets, then there is a high chance it comes from a farm that looks like Willerby Wold Piggeries. To anyone passing by, this farm - the Red Tractor-certified Willerby Wold Piggeries in Staxton near Scarborough - seems unremarkable. But as unassuming as it may look from the outside, stepping inside reveals an entirely different story that is purposefully kept hidden. The following footage is what undercover investigators working to obtain footage for Surge documented when they stepped inside this farm, which supplies pork products to Morrisons, Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s, all of which have now suspended the farm. Welfare assurance scheme Red Tractor has also terminated the farm’s membership, stating that it was “shocked” by the footage.
The footage was also sent directly to the RSPCA national control centre and a case number was 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.”
The insides of these barns are hell on Earth, where suffering, anguish and pain are the norms for the pigs trapped inside. There are row upon row of filthy stalls, where dying and long-dead pigs lie amongst the living and the walls and floors are covered with dirt and excrement.
Swollen, fetid carcasses were found all around the farm. The bodies of pigs appear to be blackened from pooling blood and mottled green where they begin to decompose, all signs of them having been there for a long time. Due to the frustration and psychological trauma of being trapped inside these concrete pens, many of the other young pigs who are still alive are driven to cannibalism.
A dead pig was found, who at first glance appeared to have been disemboweled by other pigs. However, the cut was clean and straight, suggesting that it was done by someone with a knife.
Lameness is also rife on pigs farms, with the swollen hind leg of one pig being a sign of a possible joint infection caused by any number of bacteria present in the environment, including E. coli, Staphylococci and Streptococci.
For the pigs still able to walk, many display large abdominal protrusions, which could be umbilical hernias where the intestines push through the intestinal wall and form a ball-like structure. Causes include genetic defects, bacterial infections, poor conditions or negligent management. Swine veterinarian Dr Alice Brough, who for four years audited pig farms for Red Tractor, upon reviewing the footage said that the prevalence of umbilical hernias appeared to be the highest she had ever witnessed, and that ulcerated hernias - where the hernias bleed - should never be left to become infected as some appear, and eventually rupture.
“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 stock people 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.”
Other pigs, because of the complete lack of stimulation, were seen to bite each other’s tails - a further sign of psychological and emotional distress. This is why the industry mutilates newborn piglets by cutting off their tails and teeth, as they want to avoid any financial costs that could be incurred by this behaviour. In essence, these mutilations are recognition from the farmers that they know the farming of these animals causes the pigs distress and suffering.
One solitary pig, kept separate from others most likely because of her injuries, was found with raw, bloody skin across her shoulder showing signs of infection and necrosis. Possibly an antibiotic spray for her wounds, a blue substance was sprayed on her body to also serve as a marker to show she had been singled out, potentially because the farmer was going to kill her.
In the video, we see one pig lame and unable to use her hind legs, yet a worker forces her to walk across the aisle. Pigs on farms are not treated with compassion and are instead left to suffer on their own. In another example, one pig lay in the aisle unable to get up. Three days later, she was still in the same spot, in the same position, now joined by another pig. Five days after that, they are both still in the same spot, shivering and struggling to breathe.
Dead pigs were found all around the farm. With no respect for the sentient individuals they once were, workers unceremoniously drag their recently deceased bodies out of stalls and up the central aisles using ropes tied to their legs. Hidden camera footage from outside shows piles of bodies forming at the doors of each shed, waiting to be loaded into the front of a tractor.
The terrible reality is that none of what investigators witnessed here is unusual. For intensive farming, this is no bad apple, this is instead the norm, another hell on Earth amongst countless others. The reality is, deaths on farms are a common occurrence - over two million pigs a year in Britain die before reaching slaughter - as are deformities and pigs cannibalising each other.
Time and time again, with investigations conducted by Surge and other animal justice organisations, we see the same story told. Animal Equality has investigated no less than ten pig farms in the last few years, each as terrible as the last. Animal Equality recently investigated a farm owned by the now-former chairman of Quality Meat Scotland, which sets standards for several high welfare labels, and “ensures that animals have the best possible quality of life on farm”, and that “Animal welfare and wellbeing are of paramount importance”.
The investigation revealed that piglets and larger pigs were beaten to death with hammers.
These pigs’ lives could be very different. They could be happy, carefree and playing with their friends. Pigs are intelligent, social and sensitive animals who love belly rubs. In the animal farming industry, they are reduced to objects and viewed as property.
In the UK, 86 per cent of pigs are slaughtered in gas chambers where an aversive mixture of carbon dioxide is used to suffocate the pigs. Footage recently captured by activists in Germany, shows the inside of gas chambers very much like the ones used in the UK and elsewhere in the world. The gas acidifies the moisture around their brains, their eyes and in their throats, making the pigs feel like they are burning from the inside out as they suffocate to death.
This method of slaughter is considered by the industry to be the most humane. The pigs who are not gassed to death are instead electrocuted, before then being shackled by their back leg and having their throat cut.
All of this violence is completely needless, and by being vegan together we can make it end.
“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.”
You can stop this torture, sign up to go vegan today.
