In harrowing scenes, workers repeatedly hit the animals with pitchforks and pipes, the investigation found.
Over 781 hours of secret filming by Animal Justice Project (AJP) showed the boars enduring relentless mistreatment, including being kicked and beaten when they resisted mounting stools used for semen collection.
The footage, shown by The Independent to Red Tractor, the UK’s largest food and farm standards scheme, prompted the organisation to suspend the farm’s certification, and farm owner Innovis suspended two employees.
It is the first known investigation at a UK boar farm that supplies semen to pigs slaughtered for meat, and some customer farms are organic or operate under the controversial RSPCA Assured label.
Activists claim the abuse was widespread behind closed doors.
An activist who worked undercover at Innovis’s Burgh Castle facility described harrowing conditions including:
Boars confined to barren concrete pens, smaller than recommended by government codes, with little access to natural light or darkness for rest
Denne historien er fra December 03, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
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Denne historien er fra December 03, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Absurd image that sums up Fifa's 'tinpot dictatorship'
Miguel Delaney explains how the Gianni Infantino-led endeavour to hand Saudi Arabia the 2034 World Cup finals perfectly encapsulated the depths to which football has sunk
Liverpool spoilt for choice in battle to look after No 1
The big screen in the corner of the quaint Estadi Montilivi displayed some pre-match entertainment.
City slump to defeat and Champions League peril
It amounts to miserable seven for Pep Guardiola.
Sublime Saka scores brace as Gunners boss Monaco
Bukayo Saka continues to show the way, as well as new levels. Arsenal have recently been a team in need of a bit of stability and sense of comfort, and this 3-0 win over AS Monaco duly offered them a straight line into the Champions League last 16.
Boots owner in negotiations with US private equity firm
Walgreens, the US-based owner of Boots, is in talks to sell itself to a private equity company, casting uncertainty over the future of the venerable high street chain.
Ukrainian women pulled alive from rubble seven hours after Russian strike
Rescue crews working through the night have pulled two Ukrainian women from the rubble more than seven hours after a Russian missile struck a private medical clinic in southern Zaporizhzhia city, killing six people and injuring 22 others, Ukraine’s emergency services said.
Putin helped Assad escape Syria via Russian airbase
Russian intelligence agents persuaded Bashar al-Assad to flee Syria for Moscow, having become convinced that he would lose against the insurgents rapidly advancing on Damascus, sources have said.
Syrians vow to rebuild their town after Assad's brutality
Bel Trew in Jobar, north of Damascus, meets residents returning home for the first time in more than a decade
British teenager jailed in Dubai over holiday romance
A British teenager has been jailed in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl while the pair were on holiday.
NHS patient awarded £70k after drug made him gamble
The NHS has paid out tens of thousands to a man who developed an “uncontrollable” gambling problem after he was given a common Parkinson’s drug, The Independent can reveal.
