Nature

Cruel Pig Breeder Filmed Smacking Piglets On Hard Floor

An animal welfare organisation in Austria has pressed criminal charges against a pig breeding facility after one of their employees was caught torturing newborn piglets to death.

The Association against Animal Factories (VGT) from the city of Vienna in Austria has filed charges against a breeding factory after video footage showed a female employee brutally mistreating several small piglets on at least three different occasions.

The video recordings, which reveal pig torture and horrific living conditions at the unnamed pig farm, was posted by VGT on their official website and originates from mid-June.

The breeding facility in the Austrian state of Burgenland that brutally tortured and threw away piglets after killing them. (VGT.at/Newsflash)

At one point in the video, the woman, who welfare activists suspect was the farm manager, is seen grabbing the piglets by their hind legs and throwing them on the ground.

The little animals hit their heads against the hard floor and suffer severe trauma and injuries.

The woman then throws the piglets in a bucket, and dumps the ones that lost consciousness in a plastic bag and into the bin.

The breeding facility in the Austrian state of Burgenland that brutally tortured and threw away piglets after killing them. (VGT.at/Newsflash)

Additional video footage proves that the neglected animals are not released from their cages and even bite on their metal bars out of frustration.

Animal welfare activists demanded an immediate closure of the facility and announced they would be protesting in front of the animal factory in the Austrian state of Burgenland on 7th July.

Heidi Lacroix from VGT told Newsflash: “The treatment of these piglets is illegal and absolutely gruesome. We, 20 animal rights activists from VGT, are protesting in front of the animal factory today and demand an immediate shut down of the farm.”

The breeding facility in the Austrian state of Burgenland that brutally tortured and threw away piglets after killing them. (VGT.at/Newsflash)

According to the activist, the law provides precise regulations on how to kill animals, including suckling pigs, which must be properly anesthetised first.

VGT Campaign Manager David Richter explained that slaughtering methods such as throwing piglets on hard surfaces are explicitly prohibited.

He said: “On the basis of the video material, we suspect that this is exactly what happened in at least two of the three cases. The piglets continue to kick for a long time. Killing by throwing them on the ground is illegal, but in these three cases the immediate bleeding was omitted. This means that the piglets probably died in misery from the injuries and were probably conscious.”

The breeding facility in the Austrian state of Burgenland that brutally tortured and threw away piglets after killing them. (VGT.at/Newsflash)

Lacroix added: “The Austrian authorities fail in protecting these poor animals. We demand stricter and more frequent controls of all livestock farms in Austria.”

Richter finally concluded: “It is impossible that the controls could not detect these abuses. Everyone recognises this form of husbandry as animal cruelty but from our point of view it has been practiced illegally for years.”

The Association against Animal Factories (VGT) has pressed charges against the pig far at the Mattersburg District Court and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

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