Behind the Doors of Cross Farm: Tesco Supplier Exposed for Pig Cruelty in UK
Animal Equality and acclaimed photojournalist Aitor Garmendia have exposed shocking conditions at Cross Farm, a pig farm in Southwest England. This farm boasts a Red Tractor label on its products, which allegedly indicates ‘high-quality standards.’
However, over an eight-month investigation, we uncovered abuses at the facility, which confines around 12,000 pigs.
Mother pigs were found confined in narrow farrowing crates, unable to turn around, while their piglets endured painful mutilations without anesthesia. The investigation also revealed dead piglets lying in unsanitary conditions and pigs exhibiting clear signs of psychological distress.
Despite these low standards, meat from Cross Farm ends up on the shelves of Tesco, one of the UK's largest supermarket chains.
➡ Discover more about the investigation findings: https://ae.onl/news-uk-pig-investigation-organicvimeo.
Investigations like this have inspired thousands to go plant-based. Choosing compassionate, sustainable alternatives to meat, eggs, and dairy is the most powerful way to end cruelty to pigs and other farmed animals. Join the Love Veg movement today: https://ae.onl/loveveg-organicvimeo!
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Transcript (English — en)
I heard
the investigators say, "It smells like death
here."
You wouldn't believe the stench.
That's when we saw it:
the bin full of dead piglets.
The shock of this sight turned to sadness
as our lights illuminated
the faces of mother pigs
who were lined up in rows, peering at us.
Over the course of their lives,
they will spend years behind bars.
Most people
will never step foot
inside a factory farm.
I feel it is my duty to. These
filthy,
unnatural places are hidden from view,
as are the animals who are trapped inside.
The public deserves to know the truth.
In late 2023 and early
2024, Animal Equality
filmed inside Cross Farm in Holsworthy,
Devon. Owned by W.J.
Watkins and Son,
the site confines
an estimated 12,000 pigs.
After
weeks of intense investigative research,
we came to learn that
this farm supplies
Tesco and is Red Tractor certified.
This isn't the first time
we've been inside Cross Farm.
Having already exposed poor practices
back in 2017,
we returned to see if anything
had changed.
During our latest visit,
my team
and I gathered over 100 hours of footage,
and what we discovered would alarm
any animal lover. We filmed
mother pigs crammed into cages
so small that they couldn't turn around;
piglets being thrown by workers
and thumped to death against a concrete
wall;
dead and dying piglets,
as well as the remains of a piglet
who had long since died;
and piglets
having their teeth painfully clipped
and tails cut off without anesthetic.
I can tell you firsthand:
farmed animals don't suffer in silence.
Pigs bred for their bodies
scream, cry, and plead for our help.
Will you listen to them? 10 million
pigs are slaughtered in the UK every year.
Nearly all of them will be born
into farms much like Cross Farm.
Mother pigs,
also known as "sows," are kept inside
tiny cages called "farrowing crates,"
where they can't even turn around.
They are forced to nurse their young
through a metal bar.
The stress is immense
for these intelligent animals,
causing many to frantically bite
the cage bars.
On Cross Farm,
they are given just a wooden block
or a bit of plastic
to occupy their minds.
Those
who try to escape become further trapped.
Sows spend, on average,
20% of their lives in these cramped cages.
That's the equivalent
of 17 years of imprisonment for you or me.
Within minutes of first
entering Cross Farm,
I encountered a sow giving birth.
Exhausted,
she tried to lay down, nearly crushing
all of her young.
We witnessed dozens of dead piglets inside
these cages.
Many were inches away from their mothers,
yet completely out of reach.
Paperwork showed
that most newborn piglets
were accidentally crushed by their mother.
Others had starved or been attacked.
Now that we had seen what was taking place
at night in Cross Farm,
we knew that we had to investigate
what was happening during the day, too.
So, we recorded for five days continuously
inside a so-called "farrowing room."
We exposed workers routinely
cutting the teeth and tails
off of piglets, a process commonly carried
out on many farms across the UK.
Sick or injured piglets
were so violently slammed
against the concrete wall,
a practice
so common it has a name: "thumping."
Workers
routinely kill piglets in this way,
even though it has been deemed
in violation of animal cruelty laws.
Workers were also found throwing a piglet
across the room.
A mother pig became
distressed at the sight of her babies
being collected,
but the workers showed her no kindness.
I had the opportunity
to look these animals in the eye,
to show them love for the first time
in their short and miserable lives.
At the same time,
I had to leave them behind,
knowing the fate that awaits them.
No bacon or
sausage sandwich is worth their pain.
One meal to us is a lifetime for them.
Please leave animals off your plate.
Cross Farm is Red
Tractor assured, a supplier to Tesco,
and has even won industry
awards in the past.
Despite these credentials, Animal
Equality's team has investigated Cross Farm
on three separate occasions and found
extreme animal suffering every time.
We are demanding that the authorities hold
this farm and others
accountable for their actions.