INVESTIGATION: Cruelty Found at Celebrated Pig Slaughterhouse in Italy

Animal Equality conducted
an investigation at Zema Srl
an industrial pig slaughterhouse in Lombardy
in the province of Cremona, Italy.
Every week, this facility
slaughters up to 3,000 animals,
for a total of over
150,000 pigs per year.
Of the approximately 800,000 pigs slaughtered
every year in Cremona,
19% are slaughtered here.
This facility has been touted
by Italian media
as a company of excellence
and is certified for export in Europe,
including to one of the main
producers of pig meat
products in Germany.
We filmed inside
this slaughterhouse
owned by a very well-known
family in the area.
The company is also considered
one of the highest quality
meat producers in the sector
according to Italian
trade associations.
The scenes we have documented
are very different from what the company promotes
in its advertising and communications.
The cruelty begins with the arrival of
the animals at the slaughterhouse.
We filmed numerous illegal acts
and serious violations
of the minimum standards
of animal welfare.
The pigs are
pushed out of the vehicles
and forced to move
by operators using
sticks, electrified rods,
and physical violence.
Our footage shows that on many occasions,
the animals are made to
exit the trucks without the use of ramps.
The pigs fall on the concrete floor
without consideration for their well-being,
which may cause serious injury
and gives these animals great stress.
Some pigs arrive at
the slaughterhouse already dead,
succumbing to harsh treatment during transport.
Our footage shows that these cruelties
occur in the presence of staff
and the owners of the slaughterhouse.
Many of the animals transported
to the facility
have umbilical hernia cysts
and lameness related to injuries,
infections, or malformations
present at birth.
These issues demonstrate
a serious lack of care
during the breeding process,
and that the "quality" promised by Zema
and other farms in the area
is far from reality.
Once off the vehicles,
the animals wait
in an area in front of the entrance.
The operators continue to push
and kick them, and pull their ears.
In some cases, the pigs try to
escape from this torment,
running away in the direction of
the arriving trucks
but they are stopped by the operators.
In one case, a very young piglet
is hit repeatedly by an operator
and falls into spasms.
The operator then takes him by the leg
and throws him against a concrete wall.
His body is thrown outside of the fence
in the area for deceased animals.
All this happens in front of one of the owners
who seems indifferent to the abuses by the operators.
More cruelty is captured when an operator
tries twice to kill a dying pig with a euthanasia gun.
The first attempt is unsuccessful
and leaves the animal in extreme agony.
The operator then returns
to finish the killing,
transporting the pig inside
the slaughterhouse on a forklift.
Pigs at this facility
are treated as objects,
and those who get sick or die before
they even get to the slaughterhouse
are considered to be garbage.
For pigs that survive these trials,
another torment begins once
they enter the stunning cage.
Many of them are stunned together
using a practice that is already illegal.
Stunning in the cage is ineffective
and many of the pigs are electrified again
when their bodies are on the conveyor belt.
This means that the animals
are fully conscious
as they move through the process.
All of this happens in front of
the owners of the slaughterhouse.
The animals are then
slaughtered and bled
a few feet away
from their living companions
who can see the blood
and hear
the screams of fear.
All this causes the pigs great emotional stress.
Many of the animals
are still fully conscious
and show clear signs of breathing
and movement for many minutes.
Two of them try to escape from the operators
during the bleeding phase,
with their throat already cut.
One of the two is caught,
while the other runs in the direction of the boiling tank
and is not brought
back by the operators.
We don't know what
happens to this piglet
but animals in a state
of full consciousness and moving
should not be present
while at this stage.
Some of these animals
have their limbs mutilated
during the exsanguination.
This causes unnecessary suffering
if the animal is still conscious.
Just outside the slaughter area,
dead animals are left
together with living ones.
While some pigs are left
to die in the pens outside,
many of them die
even before being slaughtered.
The footage reveals operators
moving lifeless bodies,
throwing them
outside of the fences,
and dragging them
on the pavement.
The video of this slaughterhouse
released by Animal Equality
show numerous
conscious animals
inflicted with
unnecessary suffering.
All of this is unacceptable.
We believe the treatment we filmed
represents very serious violations
and is contrary to
the "quality" and "excellence"
that Zema is trying to promote.