Having just reopened, the Comminges slaughterhouse in Boulogne-sur-Gesse (Haute-Garonne) is the target of a complaint from the L214 association, which reveals an alarming situation concerning the management of pigs and cattle, this Thursday, August 29. The animals are allegedly victims of mistreatment caused by faulty practices and equipment.
Company
From daily life to major issues, discover the subjects that shape local society, such as justice, education, health and family.
France Télévisions uses your email address to send you the “Society” newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time via the link at the bottom of this newsletter. Our Privacy Policy
In the images filmed by a hidden camera in the intercommunal slaughterhouse of Comminges, in Boulogne-sur-Gesse (Haute-Garonne), a large grey pig is hanging by its leg upside down, being bled. Suddenly, it unhooks itself from the slaughter line, falls to the ground and tries to get up. The pig should have been unconscious, stunned beforehand by the electric shock delivered by the electro-arcosis clamp. The video is being broadcast this Thursday, August 29, by the L214 association.
He is not the only one showing signs of consciousness. In the video, filmed on July 1, 2024, several pigs try to escape at the moment of their stunning. They are brought back with kicks or pushed back with an electric prod. “The clamp is systematically used twice on the pigs, reports L214. This is a major malfunction because a single hit should be enough to stun the animal.“The cause: defective equipment and poor placement of the equipment on the pig’s head.
The alert was given to the association in June 2024. It had been a month since the slaughterhouse had reopened its doors. It had lost its health approval in April 2024, after an inspection carried out in the summer of 2023 which had revealed “significant deviations from hygiene, animal protection and environmental rules”. Despite regular inspections, the situation had not improved, and the slaughterhouse had been temporarily closed.
Christophe Lafforgue, project advisor for the Comminges community of communes, claims that this closure was caused by “problems with providing administrative update documents concerning the slaughterhouse’s health control plan” as well as by “faulty electrical installations, linked to dilapidated buildings”. On May 15, 2024, the prefecture validated the reopening of the establishment, indicating that the operator had implemented “corrective actions”. Today “We have strict monitoring and we work closely with the health services,” assures the elected official.
The videos broadcast by L214 show pigs that have fallen to the ground and are hung up on the chain, or poorly stunned cattle that are raising their heads and blinking while they are hanging. The association filed a complaint for mistreatment with the public prosecutor of Saint-Gaudens on Wednesday, August 28, 2024. The unblurred videos have been sent to the courts. For Sébastien Arsac, co-founder and head of investigations at L214: “The reopening of the Comminges slaughterhouse despite clear evidence of animal abuse once again demonstrates the authorities’ failure to enforce regulations. We demand the immediate closure of this establishment.”
For their part, Christophe Lafforgue and the mayor of Boulogne-sur-Gesse, Alain Boubée, do not wish to comment on these revelations for the moment. “We have a project for a new slaughterhouse, which is part of animal welfare, for which we are doing our utmost, declares the elected representative of Comminges. There may be some marginal defections in our slaughterhouses, but this remains marginal because we are very strict with the control rules.”
