In this eye-opening investigation by Animal Equality, we can see why pig farms are the closest thing there is to hell. This time, we get an inside look at a 'quality assured' farm, owned by no other than the chairman of a committee that drafts animal welfare regulations!

Chairman of welfare regulations committee quits after his own pig farm is caught torturing pigs

Appointed by the government, Philip Sleigh, a well-known pig farmer, is also a chairman of a committee that draws welfare rules for the pig meat industry. But then, his own pig farm was caught torturing pigs on camera! Reinforcing what animal organizations have known for a long time. That welfare regulations are there to reassure consumers, not to protect the animals. In reality, the animals continue to go through hell, with or without welfare regulations.

The shockingly cruel footage from Philip's “quality assured” pig farm is so disturbing, it’s very hard to see. The farm, P&G Sleigh Pig Unit in Scotland, supplies 5-month-old pigs to a slaughterhouse that supplies meat to Tesco, Lidl, and Marks & Spencer, in addition to other well-known restaurants and retailers in the UK. All under the prestigious "Specially Selected Pork" label.

Torturing mother pigs

Miserable mother pigs who are being inseminated by the workers over and over again were filmed with torn vulvas and severe prolapses, causing inner organs to stick out of their bodies. All while being kept inside cages so small, they can't even turn around in. One particularly heartbreaking footage shows a mother pig who is in a shockingly horrid state, as she is forced to walk before she is shot by a bolt gun.

Hammering and slamming little piglets to death

The little baby piglets on the farm have their tails cut with a hot blade, and their teeth clipped with pliers, all without any pain killers. Their cries of pain and screams of fear pierce the heart, but the workers are taught that this is part of the job.

Baby piglets who don’t grow fast enough, or are deemed weak, are taken by their back legs and slammed against concrete floors. Other babies are hammered to death! Several times! Many of the piglets remain conscious after they receive multiple blows to their small heads. And so, they are left to die helpless and alone in extreme pain.

Baby pigs who are growing fast enough, are allowed to live in deplorable conditions for 5 months before they are sent to slaughter. Some of the oversized piglets are kept in the dark, inside repulsive wet pens, together with their own feces. One room on the farm is so depressing and dark, it is nicknamed by the workers as the "Black Hole."

The industry couldn't care less

But perhaps the saddest part of all, is that this “quality assured” pig farm is not doing anything out of the ordinary. Everything that is seen in this investigation is standard practice in the pig meat industry. An industry that couldn’t care less about the animals it is profiting from. Time and time again, welfare rules and quality assured labels are being exposed for what they are, a smart advertising tactic that is completely detached from reality.

What can one do to help?