Published 26/07/2013

Compassion is seeking urgent action from the World Organisation for Animal Health (also known as the OIE) in response to horrifying footage appearing to show pigs in Russia being burned alive.

In response to the horrific images, which show almost unimaginable animal suffering, Compassion has asked the OIE to contact the Russian authorities immediately to establish the facts and put an immediate stop to any such inhumane treatment.

It is believed the purpose of these actions are disease control, following a reported outbreak of African Swine Fever in backyard pigs in the Rostov, Voronezh and Volgograd regions.

What is certain is that, whatever the reason, burning pigs alive is in clear breach of the OIE standards on the Killing of Animals for Disease Control Purposes.

Take Action:

Email the Russian Embassy and ask them to urgently raise this issue with the Russian Government. A polite email will be more likely to have an effect so please avoid using offensive language.

Ask the Russian Ambassador to insist their colleagues:

• Investigate this incident
• Make a public statement of their findings
• Ensure any future slaughter is in line with the OIE standards on the Killing of Animals for Disease Control Purposes

The videos are available on YouTube. We have taken the decision not to include them on our site.