Video taken at a farm revealed a litany of abuse that broke welfare regulations including:
- A worker swinging a tiny piglet by one leg and smashing its head against a wall
- Piglets teeth being clipped off without pain relief
- Pigs being illegally and repeatedly shocked with an electric prod in their sides and neck
- A piglet left frothing at the mouth on a pile of corpses
- Dozens of dead piglets littering the floor of the farrowing (birthing) shed as well as live piglets trapped in crates with dead siblings
- Pigs crammed into barren pens so small they are forced to lie on each other in the heatwave
- At least one creature suffering from a tumour or hernia
Animal-welfare investigators uncovered the breaches of regulations at Rosebury Farm in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, which had passed five Red Tractor inspections this year including one last month – all of which the farm had been alerted to in advance.ONLY BY CHANGING THE LAW TO ENABLE INSPECTORS TO carry out all their inspections without providing notice, will consumers ever be guaranteed that the animals which end up in our food chains have been treated humanely.