Pigs ‘slapped and kicked’ at Midland farm
Actor and campaigner slams secret footage by activists
AMIDLAND pig farm whose pork ends up at leading supermarkets has been accused of poor treatment of its animals after activists filmed secret footage.
Bickmarsh Hall Farm, in Alcester, near Redditch, is a mega-farm housing 8,000 pigs in 46 sheds that end up on Tesco and Asda shelves.
Animal Justice Project filmed secretly at the Honeybourne Road farm for three months with footage showing some staff kicking and slapping pigs.
Animal rights campaigner and actor Peter Egan, who played Hugh ‘Shrimpie’ MacClare in ITV’s Downton Abbey, said he found the footage ‘heartbreaking’.
But inspections by watchdogs and a food producer said the farm was operating up to required standards.
The animal rights group claimed it was “the grim reality” of farming and footage was among the worst it had seen.
Bickmarsh Hall is a Red Tractorassured farm that rears pigs for pork producer Cranswick Country Foods, which supplies Asda and Tesco.
Cranswick said it takes animal welfare seriously and made an unannounced audit of Bickmarsh Hall after seeing the footage. A Cranswick spokesman for the farm said: “The unit was found to be operating to the required standard.”
Animal Justice Project claims pigs were lying in cramped squalor, some were left for hours to die, pens had no bedding but hard slats and there were only five feeding troughs for more than 25 animals. Activists shared the video on the group’s Vimeo channel claiming it saw bins piled high with corpses, a shivering piglet being trampled on by others under grim conditions and some pigs unable to bear weight on all four legs, which potentially breaks welfare regulations and industry guidelines.
Mr Egan said: “Despite having witnessed many harrowing scenes of animal cruelty, I’ve found the video taken at Bickmarsh Hall farm particularly heart-breaking.”
Former pig industry vet Dr Alice Brough said the footage shows “the epitome of squalor and unfortunately represents the norm for a large proportion of Britain’s pig farms”.
Animal Justice Project founder Claire Palmer added: “Our footage captures the grim reality for pigs on farms in Britain. Consumers must be asking themselves, is a bacon sandwich or pork pie worth that?”
Red Tractor said its logos on supermarket food underpinned “high standards of British food and drink”. It added that an investigation found the farm was in compliance with its animal welfare standards and that protecting health and welfare was a top priority.
Tesco and Asda also said they took the allegations seriously and were investigating. A Tesco spokesman said: “All of our pigs are reared to recognised farm assurance standards such as Red Tractor, RSPCA Assured, as well as our own.”
The farm regarding the footage but it declined to comment.