INVESTIGATION: Mummified Animals and Suffering Pigs Found on Italian Farm
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Animal Equality has released a new investigation documenting suffering and abuse on a pig farm in Lombardy, Italy, affiliated with the Bompieri Group, whose products are known through a marketing slogan to be the “Excellence of Made in Italy.”
THE DETAILS: The investigation—carried out in collaboration with local Italian television—reveals poor and unsanitary living conditions, as well as sewage spills that could put the surrounding environment at risk. The footage was collected in May 2021 and once again shows the terrible reality of pig farms that supply products that hold the seal of “Excellence of Made in Italy.” Our team found:
- Mummified and worm-filled carcasses of dead pigs abandoned in the corridors of the farm, in violation of animal disposal laws.
- Areas littered with pig and cat bones, with heads still covered in fur and flesh.
- Piglets living in cages with those that had already died.
- Animals with large umbilical cysts, wounds, and hernias.
- Animals living in cages flooded by untreated sewage, with their food contaminated with feces.
- Snail and cockroach infestations throughout the farm, including amongst the feed.
- Cats in poor health left to fend for themselves;
- Cobwebs, dirt, and debris everywhere
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: The problems we documented did not only concern animals. Our investigators found the presence of a sewage spill in the area outside the farm very close to a riverbank. The company is located a few hundred meters from the Oglio river, with the spill posing a dangerous risk of pollution of surrounding aquifers.
WE CONTINUED TO INVESTIGATE: The farm is affiliated with the Bompieri Group, one of the main producers of meat from pigs in Italy and owner of over 40 farms. Gruppo Bompieri had already been the subject of a previous Animal Equality investigation released in February 2021, which had shown equally serious conditions in another affiliated farm in the province of Brescia.
WHAT WE’RE SAYING: The findings are terrible and show the company’s lack of care and respect for farmed animals, as well as towards existing rules for their protection in Italy. Animal Equality asks for an effective and decisive intervention by local authorities to change these conditions, which are in stark contrast to those claimed by the Bompieri Group,” said Alice Trombetta, Director of Animal Equality in Italy.
CONTINUING TO EXPOSE THE TRUTH: The mistreatment of pigs in Italy highlighted by our investigators is not an isolated case. Cruelty and abuse happen on farms all over the world, and millions of animals are suffering right now on similar farms. Regarding our findings, Animal Equality reported the situation to local authorities, filing complaints to put pressure on the company to change its ways. We’ve also created a petition addressed to Italy’s Minister of Health and the President of the Council asking that stricter measures and protections for these animals be put into place. We will continue to investigate factory farms and slaughterhouses, shining a light on these terrible places until all animals are spared from the industry’s misery and cruelty.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT ISSUE: https://animalequality.org/issues/meat/
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Transcript (English — en)
In Lombardy, Italy,
more than four million
pigs are bred every year, accounting
for 50 percent of the total
number of pigs raised in the country.
These farms have a devastating impact
on animals and the surrounding area.
A few months ago, Animal Equality
released footage shot inside
a pig farm owned by Grupo Bompieri
in the province of Brescia
Since then, Animal Equality has continued
to investigate the Bompieri Group,
owner and manager
of over 40 pig farms in Italy.
The group, which took its website offline
after our first investigation,
was subject to complaints
by Animal Equality for ill-treatment
and misleading advertising.
The complaints were filed
with the local prosecutor's office.
In our latest footage,
we investigate another farm affiliated
with Grupo Bompieri,
a facility that houses thousands of pigs.
The farm is located in the
province of Mantua, in an area of Italy
that is severely affected
by intensive farming—farming,
which impacts air and water quality
and the lives of the animals
confined in these places.
Alongside a local Italian television
news crew, Animal Equality
showed more than half a million viewers
what lies behind the so-called
excellence of Made in Italy.
The structure is dilapidated with dust
and cobwebs covering the electrical panel.
Sewage comes out of the fattening boxes
and seeps into the corridors,
creating unsanitary conditions.
The weaning section of the farm
is no better.
In the cages where piglets recently separated from
their mothers are forced to live,
we found the presence of feces
inside the feeders
contaminating the feed.
The doors were covered with blood.
And we found decaying bodies of pigs
in the corridors.
Some even became mummified
due to the length of time
they were left to rot in the halls.
The remains of pigs and even decaying
bodies of cats covered the floor.
These are very serious violations
and indicate the failure
to dispose of animal bodies
as required by law.
Aside from the many deceased animals
abandoned outside
of the enclosures, there are others
that were left within them.
Living piglets are forced to live
in these small spaces with other dead ones.
These animals have wounds,
skin problems, cysts,
and they're often debilitated.
The flooring of the company offices
and near the operators
bathrooms is infested with snails.
And inside the sheds,
we found cockroaches on the walls
and near the containers of feed
intended for the pigs.
In the area used for weening,
we found a colony of cats
also abandoned in unsanitary conditions.
This is the treatment
of the animals on the farm
before and after death.
From an environmental point of view,
we also encountered many alarming scenes.
The farm is located near the Oglio River,
a tributary of the Po River.
Just a few hundred feet from the river,
we documented a massive sewage
leak from the farm's containment tanks.
A dangerous fact for the aquifer
given its proximity to the river.
All this is unacceptable
and very different from the marketing
of the Bompieri Group,
which is affiliated with this farm.
For the second time in 2021,
we showed that this company's
claims of caring about
animal welfare standards
mattered
only in their advertising.
Animal Equality has filed
another complaint against Grupo Bompieri
to local authorities
denouncing what we found.
Moving forward, we will continue
our investigations
into these farms
until there is justice for these animals.