Spain

, Fuente Alamo

Animal Equality has just released a shocking video with images filmed at a pig farm in El Escobar, located in Fuente Alamo in the Spanish region of Murcia. The video shows some of the most brutal scenes of violence against animals at farms that our Investigation Team has ever witnessed.

Marco Verduga Vinicio, one of the farm workers who has handed over the footage, has revealed that the animals are bred for the food company El Pozo (according to the farm worker), which also sells its products to the leading supermarket Morrisons in the United Kingdom and in other countries. In 2010, the United Kingdom imported 16,253 tonnes of pig flesh from Spain, including products such as ‘chorizo’ from this company.

In 2008 this farm received a ‘Porc d’Or award’ from the meat industry.

ANIMAL EQUALITY HAS OBTAINED FOOTAGE OF THE FOLLOWING:

Workers hitting pigs on their heads with iron bars, jumping on top of them, kicking them, and posing in front of a camera with the pigs.

hitting pigs on their heads with iron bars, jumping on top of them, kicking them, and posing in front of a camera with the pigs. Workers attacking and killing pigs with meter-in-length swords.

attacking and killing pigs with meter-in-length swords. This pig, tied and immobilised, unsuccessfully tries to escape while the workers for several minutes pulls out the piglets. They remove her intestines, liver and other internal organs while she suffers terribly. The animal is left in agony with internal organs spread over the ground until she dies several minutes later.

USUAL METHODS OF SLAUGHTER ON THE FARM

Thanks to Marco Verduga Vinicio, Animal Equality has found that these events occur frequently on the farm El Escobar owned by Francisco Vera Sanchez, and that the farm managers are aware of this. In fact it is they who request these actions, have been filmed engaging in them, and have established these methods as the norm for killing animals at the farm.

In a unique interview given to Animal Equality, this worker states that he has witnessed the killing of pigs with swords more than 50 times already. He adds that this type of abuse occurs on a regular basis – each week since he started working at the farm in 2009. He has also revealed that the animals are bred for the food company El Pozo, which also sells its products to the leading supermarket, Morrisons in the United Kingdom and in other countries.

Animal Equality regards these scenes of violence (the most recent being filmed just three weeks ago) as examples of sadistic behavior against animals.

This case shows once again the horror inflicted onto the animals used in the meat industry. A previous investigation by Animal Equality that took place for over two years at 172 farms highlighted the horror of Spanish pig farming industry.

Andrew Knight, BSc. (Vet. Biol.), BVMS, CertAW, DipECAWBM-AWSEL, PhD, MRCVS, FOCAE

Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics United Kingdom, states:

The video I viewed featured pigs struggling to move because of severe hindquarter problems. Workers killed the pigs by repeatedly stabbing them in the flank or chest with a sword approximately one metre in length. The pigs were clearly in severe pain, struggled to escape, and took some time to die. However, the workers were apparently oblivious to their plight. Forms of abusive and callous behaviour included menacing a pig that was unable to retreat by by poking the sword almost into its eyeball, kicking recumbent pigs, and laughing at and apparently mocking dying pigs.

In short, the treatment of these pigs was the most egregious abuse of individual farm animals that I have ever observed. The workers clearly appeared to delight in some of their actions. The treatment of these pigs was shockingly cruel, and in fact, sadistic. The actions of these workers would violate the ethical standards and animal welfare legislation of any civilised nation, and would normally attract the most serious punishments allowable under the law.

Miguel Rodriguez Castaño, Anaesthetic of the Veterinary Hospital of the University of Madrid, states:

“This is the most horrible treatment of animals I’ve seen in my career. The suffering these animals have to endure is similar to the suffering humans would experience in that same situation. The animals have endured extreme suffering and unique brutality.”

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