In Great Britain, there has been a shock to images from a Scottish pigsty. It shows that pigs are killed in an unnecessarily gruesome way.
Staff at the stable in north-east Scotland hit a pig to the head with a hammer. Other shots show piglets being hit against a concrete floor. Sows can also be seen with serious injuries, such as organs hanging out of the body. The images were secretly made, the action group Animal Equality UK has them on Thursday published.
The barn owner was on the board of Quality Meat Scotland, an organization that promotes meat and wants to set a certain standard for pig farmers. When the farmer saw the images from his stable, he withdrew from the organization, writes The Times.
Quality Meat Scotland has started an investigation into the images. “Animals must be treated with respect,” the organization said. “Pigs that do not die by the normal method should be quickly and humanely euthanized by trained and competent persons.”
The British trade association for the pig industry calls the images completely unacceptable and is also conducting an investigation.
Cheap meat
The newspaper The Scottish Farmer writes that according to other Scottish farmers the images “agree with industry as a whole, “which already has an image problem. A farmer and veterinarian argues that it is also a problem that supermarkets, governments and consumers are exerting” extreme pressure “to produce cheap meat.” that lead to this kind of unacceptable behavior. “
A well-known meat distributor and the supermarkets Lidl and Tesco immediately cut ties with the company where the abuses were filmed. The action group Animal Equality calls the images an example of another company that “promises high well-being, but ignores the rules”. The action group calls for better controls and stricter regulations regarding pigs.
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