Cruel Britannia – Photos from Viva!’s shocking pig farm investigation

British consumers have been deceived, by both the pig industry and the Government, into believing that pigs on UK farms enjoy a standard of living which is unparalleled anywhere in the world. Video footage of conditions inside British pig units taken by Viva! provides powerful evidence to the contrary. Chosen entirely at random, the units exposed are typical of UK pig farms and reveal a terrifying picture of filth, overcrowding, dead and dying animals and widespread neglect.

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1. A breeding sow in a metal farrowing crate. Over 70% of pregnant pigs in Britain are locked into these cages a week before they give birth. Their imprisonment lasts for thirty-five days every five months. It is a struggle for them to stand up or lie down and they often develop sores where the bars of cage rub against their skin.

2. No bedding is provided for the sow’s comfort or to help keep her piglets warm.

3. Many breeding sows develop large sores from the bars of their cage. This poor sow had sores on both her right and left shoulder.

4. Pig farmers claim that the farrowing crate prevents sows from crushing their piglets. This tiny piglet who has been crushed to death by the mother proves this to be false. Sows in outdoor (free-range) breeding systems in fact have lower piglet mortality rates that those kept in farrowing crates.

5. Two dead piglets lying at the back of their mother’s crate, one entangled in the afterbirth. Piglet mortality is high on intensive farms, with 10 per cent dying before weaning.

6. A dead piglet left lying in the aisle inside a breeding shed. This was a common site on all the breeding farms we investigated.

7. On one farm we discovered a skip full of dead piglets.

8. Two dead piglets lying in full view of their mother, yet she is unable to reach them.

9. A dead piglet and afterbirth left lying in the aisle of a breeding shed.