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Published 20/01/2010
Investigation exposes illegal practices on pig farms
Compassion in World Farming's undercover investigation - together with a report by the European Food Safety Authority - suggests that many of the 250 million pigs reared each year in the European Union are being farmed in illegal conditions.
Our new film, launched in Brussels on 21 January 2010, presents graphic footage showing farmers' apparent failure to follow the law and governments' failure to enforce it.
During an 18-month undercover investigation, starting in 2008, Compassion visited 74 pig farms in six EU Member States: the UK, Denmark, Hungary, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.
The vast majority of the pigs we saw had their tails docked (cut off) and most had no straw or other manipulable materials provided. EU law says clearly that pigs should not be routinely tail-docked and that enrichment materials must be provided.
The investigation uncovered tail-docked pigs living on barren concrete floors in conditions of utter deprivation that are totally unsuitable for these highly active, intelligent animals.
Compassion in World Farming and our European allies have filed Formal Complaints to the European Commission against several of these countries. We ask all EU citizens to help us stop this misery.
