Animal Equality Investigation Reveals Truth Behind Italy’s Pig Farms
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Animal Equality Italy, in collaboration with the country’s national media outlet, Tg2, has published a new investigation exposing atrocities inside a pig farm in Northern Italy. As a result of the investigation, the owners of the farm have been reported to the authorities.
THE DETAILS: For four months between February and April 2019, our investigation team, along with Tg2 journalist and host Piergiorgio Giacovazzo, visited a pig farm in the Northern Italian region of Lombardy. Despite the region’s animal welfare laws, the investigators found that the thousands of pigs living on the farm were being subjected to distressing and shocking conditions. Among the cruelty witnessed, our investigators found:
- Dead bodies of piglets abandoned in the corridors
- Decomposing and mummified bodies of pigs
- A worker who kills a pig by throwing it against the wall
- Pigs forced into cages that are too small, covered with wounds and with bedsores
- Animals piled up and forced to live in overcrowded conditions
- Pigs covered in feces and urine
- Feeders full of feces
- An operator who urinates in the middle of the fences
- Infestations of cockroaches, mice and worms
DID YOU KNOW?: In Italy, there are more than 8 million pigs bred every year in intensive factory farms, with almost 4 million in Lombardy alone. Of those, more than 500,000 female pigs are forced to spend almost all their life between the bars of cages without the ability to move or look after their children.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: "Thanks to our investigation and to Tg2, the horrors on farms have been clearly revealed and now the authorities must take responsibility and respond adequately. We must move promptly to close farms like this one which causes immense suffering to animals. We have reported this farm and will follow the story closely," says Matteo Cupi, Executive Director of Animal Equality Italy.
WHAT WE ARE DOING: Along with the launch of the investigation, a petition was started and addressed to the Minister of Agricultural Policies Gian Marco Centinaio and to the Minister of Health Giulia Grillo asking to close this farm and also for more oversight of factory farms in general. Once again our investigative work has exposed the immense cruelty and suffering on factory farms and destroys the idyllic image often shown by farmers and in companies’ branding and marketing. We need your support to continue to reveal these abuses - please consider a donation today that will impact the lives of millions of animals
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Transcript (English — en)
We are about to enter a
pig farm with the journalist of TG2 via
Giorgio Giacovazzo what you are about to
see is far from what the
meat industry advertisements tell you the advertisements do not show you
the filthy warehouses and
parasite infestations and the acts of
gratuitous cruelty inflicted on these animals
cruelty that no one deserves to suffer
[Music]
inside the warehouses
the air is thick with dust and despite
the protective masks it is almost
impossible to breathe our
stay here will be temporary but these
animals will spend their entire lives in
a dilapidated, moldy and
filthy structure the ceiling is literally falling to
pieces and the drains of the recent ones
are clogged with feces and urine in
an industry that aims to increase
profits and reduce costs
overcrowding is almost a given the
animals cannot move freely
and are forced to walk on a
flooded concrete floor just
looking at them it is impossible to breathe many animals
are sick they have umbilical hernias
wounds abrasions prolapses highlights
how not No veterinary care is provided
for these animals.
The entire building is infested with spiders,
cockroaches, and mice,
whose urine can transmit
diseases to the animals. We enter the
maternity ward and this time it is the
noises that shock us.
For the mothers locked in
gestation cages, the slightest movement is
almost impossible for the piglets. Thus,
any type of interaction with
their cubs is denied. These little ones will
never receive the maternal care they
need.
The only thing they can do is
walk around their mother in
an enclosure heated by halogen lamps.
Some of them are crushed
under the weight of the piglets imposed like
this. The suffering is not only physical but
also psychological. The level of stress and
frustration is such that it induces the sows
to aggressive behavior due to the
disastrous conditions.
The mortality rate is extremely high.
The bodies are everywhere in the cages, in the
corridors, in the pens. By law, they
should be removed immediately,
but it is clear that some of them have been
here for a long time.
In addition to their atrocious end, the piglets are
forced to suffer torture from
birth, such as tail docking and the
Castration without anesthesia,
in addition to the pain of the open wound, carries a
very high risk of contracting serious infections. Systematic
tail docking is legal throughout the European Union,
and even a single inspection by
the competent authorities would be enough to
detect this serious failure
by the company.
We leave the warehouses, hoping to
leave the horror behind, but we are
wrong. We head towards the cold
storage room.
Once opened, we find ourselves faced with
a disturbing scene due to a
malfunction in the room.
Dozens of corpses are in an
advanced state of decomposition, thrown away
like garbage.
This criminal farm is not
located in a remote area of Italy, it is
located in the heart of Lombardy, a
among the excellences of quality.
We cannot accept that animals
are subjected to such facilities.
We are asking the Minister
of Agriculture and the Minister of
Health to close this facility. This is
an immediate change in the legislation
on livestock farming.
More inspections by the
competent authorities are needed, and they are needed immediately.
Sign the petition now. This
farm must close.