Animal agriculture is sustained by misleading marketing and propaganda. Through tactics like ‘welfare washing’, such as assurance schemes including Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured, the industry has the public exactly where it wants them. It feeds them stories of happy pigs that gallantly give up their babies or walk onto a truck heading to the slaughterhouse. This imagery is a far cry from the grim truth, and it’s our goal to reach as many people as possible with honest facts.
Project Pig will drive change through multi-faceted campaigning and push us forward towards a world where pigs are no longer seen as commodities but as sentient, compassionate individuals with the right to be free.
We have a strong animal rights community where we can drive positive change, so we must come together and create a tangible difference for pigs and animal liberation. Together, we will build the future that we all desire – one where our fellow animals are seen for who they truly are: brilliant individuals worthy of respect and compassion.
Most pigs in the UK are kept in dark, filthy sheds with very little to do. Severe lack of enrichment, or no enrichment at all, often results in aggressive behaviours and even cannibalism. The industry prioritises efficiency and profit above all else, and as a result, pigs suffer greatly. Animal Justice Project has filmed on several pig farms; sadly, these are commonplace findings.
Despite what you may see in advertisements, only 3-4% of pigs are kept outdoors their entire lives before being slaughtered. Approximately 40% of sows – female pigs – are kept outdoors, where they give birth in small huts or arcs. Their babies are taken away at just 4-6 weeks old. The mothers remain in this cycle until the farmers consider them as ‘cull sows’ (when their bodies are exhausted, like a ‘spent’ dairy cow) – at this point, they will be killed just like their babies. The remaining 60% of sows are confined indoors, giving birth in farrowing crates, greatly restricting their movements. These crates are so small that the mothers can only stand up and lie down. They can be in these crates for many weeks and multiple times a year.
Piglets endure horrific mutilations, including having their tails cut off and their teeth ground down, without anaesthetic, all before they reach just one week old.
Boars – male pigs – don’t have it much better. On breeding farms, boars can be kept indoors in concrete pens for years at a time, having their semen ‘collected’ from them until their bodies can no longer keep up with the industry’s demands, where they, too, will be killed. Very few pigs have the opportunity to display their natural behaviours like foraging, digging, wallowing and exploring. Almost all pigs have their innate instincts restricted through mutilations, confinement, being abused or sexually exploited, whether they’re ‘free-range’ or imprisoned indoors.
Pig slaughter is almost indescribable because of the unimaginable suffering the individuals have to endure. 88% of pigs in the UK are gassed. Gases like carbon dioxide are aversive, meaning they cause significant distress and pain to the pigs as they breathe them in. Small groups of individuals are pushed into the gas chamber, usually by an automated wall, where they will be lowered into the toxic mixture of gases. They will be rendered unconscious after a terrifying and painful 90 seconds. Their lifeless bodies will then be rolled out before being hung up, and workers will cut the pigs’ throats to drain their blood, killing them. The remaining 12% are electrically stunned before being hung upside down and facing the same fate.
The Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), which advises the government, called for gassing to be banned as a method of stunning pigs over 20 years ago. This is echoed by animal advocacy groups across the country. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) produced a report with the same concerns, highlighting how painful and distressing gassing is. Disappointingly, the calls for it to be banned have so far been dismissed by the government.
In a tirade of physical and verbal attacks, staff at Innovis stabbed boars with pitchforks, kicked them in the face and testes, hit them with metre-long plastic piping, all whilst yelling and swearing. The boars were drugged with a libido-enhancing off-label drug called Enzaprost, which comes with dire side effects, including incoordination, irritation and vomiting.
The abuse was commonplace, with boars being beaten in the ‘collection’ room and whilst being moved between pens. The concrete pens that held boars, individually or in groups of two or three, were barren. No enrichment was given to keep the pigs stimulated, just a small amount of straw. Tragically, we filmed boars chewing on the concrete floors to loosen pieces to play with. They were imprisoned in these pens for years, only being allowed out to be ‘collected’ from. This resulted in severe lameness, with individuals unable to bear weight on all four legs. The average life for a ‘working boar’ is 5-7 years old. Five years of confinement. Five years of abuse. Five years of misery.
Being vegan is the first step in helping animals. Over the past decade, UK ‘meat’ consumption has been at its lowest level per person since records began, with a 14% decline since 2021. More strikingly, ‘pork’ consumption has plummeted by 26%. The industry is feeling the impact; from 2022 to 2023, the number of pigs slaughtered in the UK reduced by almost 12%. You can help push these numbers down further by leaving pigs and all animal products off your plate.
Door-dropping flyers or handing out leaflets at outreach events is a great way to share the truth behind pig farming. We have a range of helpful, informative resources, including our Respect All Life leaflets and Animal Farming factsheets.
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