Animal Equality reveals mistreatments in a pig farm in Northern Italy

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Animal Equality reveals mistreatments in a pig farm in Northern Italy

23 February 2021
Animal Equality
News
In collaboration with Italian television, Animal Equality has released a new investigation that reveals the cruel reality of pigs bred for meat in Northern Italy - a region that markets its products with the so called prestigious stamp “excellence Made in Italy.”

In Italy, more than 8 million pigs are bred every year on industrial farms, 4 million of which in Lombardy alone. Out of these, almost 1.5 million are bred in the province of Brescia—an area also affected by pollution and sewage spills related to the massive presence of intensive farming. 

In September 2020, Animal Equality and Italian journalist Roberta Spinelli visited a pig farm in Brescia, Italy, and documented terrible abuse and suffering—images in stark contrast from the idyllic picture of contented animals on green pastures often painted by the region’s producers. The investigative team found:

  • Pigs abandoned and left to die in corridors
  • Bodies of dead pigs amongst the living
  • Workers dragging pigs by their legs with ropes 
  • Animals with cysts and sores, unable to walk because of their open wounds
  • Animals crammed together and forced to live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions 
  • Pigs covered with feces and urine 
  • Cockroach, rat, and worm infestations 
  • Sewage not properly disposed of in a ditch adjacent to the farm and fields 

Animal Equality has decided to launch a petition addressed to the Italian government to ask , among other things, for more effective, frequent and unexpected inspections within intensive farms, where animals are mistreated every day.