Agriculture Department vows to investigate alleged breaches of pig welfare

Laura Boxson, left, from the National Animal Rights Association with Becky Jenkins from Animal Rebellion and Doctor Alice Brough outside Buswell Hotel, Dublin, during a press conference to highlight evidence of neglect, environmental harm, and dangers to human health on Irish pig farms from their recent undercover investigation. Picture: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

The Department of Agriculture said it will investigate alleged breaches of pig welfare following an undercover investigation by two animal welfare groups.

Animal Rebellion Ireland and the National Animal Rights Association secretly filmed two pig farms over several days in Leinster and Ulster in January which showed distressed and dying animals in filthy conditions.

The groups said they forwarded 200 files of images to the Department of Agriculture using the anonymous animal cruelty portal.

In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Department said it "takes any allegations of breaches of animal welfare regulations extremely seriously".

The spokesperson said: “In relation to the alleged breaches of the pig welfare requirements raised by Animal Rebellion Ireland and the National Animal Rights Association, we will investigate these following receipt of any evidence, and take appropriate action where non-compliance or poor welfare is identified."

The department said pig farms were subject to regular inspections.

The footage of the undercover investigation was shown at a press conference in Dublin on Tuesday.

It showed pregnant and breastfeeding pigs confined in tiny spaces, while open wounds could be seen on a number of animals.

One pig could not stand, while dozens of dead animals lay in piles outside the sheds.

Becky Jenkins with Animal Rebellion Ireland said the footage had left viewers ‘distressed’.

“The big one that struck a lot of people is the extreme confinement of these mother pigs," she said.

They are kept in coffin-like conditions for up to half of their lives, not able to turn around or move from side to side, just very confined for a long period.

“This is quite tortuous, they don’t get to socialise at all. 

"Another disturbing point is the piglets’ tails are generally speaking docked or cut off, often done without anesthesia, often not by a vet but by a lay person. This can cause infection.

“The level of filth and contamination and faeces — if we are consuming these pigs, what kind of pathogens are we consuming?" she said.

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Ms Jenkins said they were concerned about the number of dead pigs that had been left lying outside the farms for days.

There are around 300 pig farms in Ireland and up 3.4m pigs are slaughtered in Ireland every year.