Forty pigs were killed in an accident in Burlington, Canada, while survivors roamed free before being recaptured ‘right around the corner’ from meat plant

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

It was a final – and brief – taste of freedom.



Dozens of pigs escaped after a transport truck carrying around 180 pigs to a slaughterhouse in the Canadian city of Burlington lost control and overturned.

Some roamed nearby streets, others milled around the toppled truck. One photo showed a pig strolling on a sidewalk next to a parking lot.

But the wandering pigs were swiftly corralled, police said. Dozens more remained trapped in the overturned truck, squealing as emergency responders and plant employees worked to get them out. Measures were taken to ensure the pigs were handled as humanely as possible, said Sgt Barry Malciw, of the Halton regional police service.

The location of the accident, however, cut short the pigs’ final moments of freedom. “It was pretty much right on the corner of the actual slaughterhouse, for lack of a better word,” Malciw said. Shortly after surviving the crash, plant employees marched the pigs to the slaughterhouse on foot.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation. Police said 40 pigs died in the accident, while the driver received minor injuries.

Canada woman faces 10 years in prison for giving pigs water on hot day Read more

The crash prompted a tense standoff between police and about a dozen animal rights activists, who flocked to the scene soon after the accident. As plant employees used sheets of cardboard to shield the pigs from view, activists implored them to release the animals.

Those at the scene said Anita Krajnc, the 49-year-old currently on trial for giving water to pigs on a hot day, was arrested after repeatedly crossing police lines. Police refused to confirm the reports, saying only that a female was arrested at the scene for obstructing police.

Krajnc is currently facing up to 10 years in prison over her attempts to give water to a truckload of pigs as they headed to the same slaughterhouse involved in Wednesday’s crash.

She has pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal mischief. The trial is ongoing; in a court appearance Monday she likened cigarettes to bacon, calling it child abuse to feed bacon to children.