The disturbing footage was recorded in secret as part of an investigation by an animal-rights organisation
A criminal investigation has been launched after secretly recorded footage showed pigs being hammered to death at a meat farm in Scotland.
The disturbing video, recorded as part of an investigation by animal-rights organisation
Animal Equality UK, showed piglets deemed too small or weak being killed by farm workers, who used hammers or swung the animals against a concrete floor.
The farm, P&G Sleigh Pig Unit, which is located in Aberdeenshire, is r
eportedly owned by the man who set up Scotland's pig welfare standards. It received an endorsement from the organisation of which he is chairman and was described as being "high-welfare".
Those pigs not killed at the farm are taken to a slaughterhouse which supplies several UK supermarkets, including Lidl, Tesco, Marks & Spencer. Since the footage emerged, Tesco has indefinitely severed links with the pork supplier, with Lidl also suspending it.
Animal Equality, who
have launched a petition to help protect pigs, also said that their investigation showed how piglets born on the farm "routinely had their tails cut off with a hot blade and their teeth clipped with pliers, without any pain relief."
"Undercover footage captured by Animal Equality has revealed disturbing scenes of animal suffering on P&G Sleigh Pig Unit in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which is owned by senior pig industry figure Philip Sleigh," the group says on their website.
"As a result of our investigation, the farm has been removed from the Quality Meat Scotland assurance scheme and Philip Sleigh is now no longer a Board Member of the initiative."
