Revealed: The State of Europe’s pigs
Europe’s pigs are being farmed in horrendous and often illegal conditions - our latest investigation reveals.
Our Europe-wide investigation into pig welfare standards reveals shocking images of barren pig pens with European law frequently broken, including in several British farms despite UK claims to highest welfare.
In virtually all of the 60 farms we visited across Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain and the UK we found poor welfare. Most of the sows – the mother pigs – that were seen were kept in stalls so narrow that they cannot even turn round. Most fattening pigs are packed into overcrowded barren, often dirty pens.
“In general the situation of the pigs was very alike in all countries we visited,” explains Compassion in World Farming’s investigator. “The floors were bare, space was very little and the places very dirty.
“It’s horrifying to imagine that most of the meat sold in the supermarkets, restaurants and that we see in daily life from animals is being kept in these conditions.”
The investigation illustrates the effects of an industrial system on a highly sentient, intelligent animal.
The study recorded a high rate of poor animal welfare:
- Routine tail docking on up to 100 per cent of farms visited – prohibited by EU law
- Widespread lack of environmental enrichment – prohibited by EU law
- Continued use of farrowing crates, metal cages confining mothering sows
- Continued use of sow stalls, cages for pregnant sows across Europe (except UK – who banned sows stalls in 1999) despite the looming 2013 ban
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We want the EU pigs Directive which is due to be reviewed in 2009 to be strengthened to end the suffering that is inflicted every day.
Consumers can make a difference too by checking labels and demanding higher welfare.
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