- The majority of pigs in Ireland are raised indoors in factory farms where they cannot indulge in their normal behaviours such as rooting (ie. digging with their snouts).
- Tail docking – the practice of removing part of a pig’s tail with a hot blade or sharp pliers to reduce the risk of tail biting – is banned in the EU. Legislation states that it should only be used when all other avenues have been exhausted. Very few member states are compliant with the legislation, however, and it continues to be commonly practised in Ireland. (Source: Teagasc)
- Pregnant sows are put in ‘farrowing crates’ for many weeks where they cannot even turn around.
- An investigation in 2022 found that sows in the EU:
- spend many weeks in cages so small they prevent practically all movement apart from standing up and lying down
- endure lying in their own excrement and urine, something they would naturally avoid
- experience the torment of being unable to properly nurture their young because of the restriction of the cage
- resort to abnormal repetitive behaviours like bar biting and chewing the air because they are so frustrated. (Source)
- Pigs are usually slaughtered when they are between 4 and 10 months old. Their natural life-span would have been 15 years.
- Pigs are slaughtered by being individually introduced into a restraining box where they are rendered unconscious by stunning them, usually with an electric current applied by electrodes or by gas stunning (using carbon dioxide or non-aversive gas mixtures, such as argon or nitrogen)47. Sometimes a captive bolt device (a gun that shoots a metal pin into the brain) may be used. After stunning, pigs are bled out by cutting their throats. In some countries without welfare legislation, pigs may be killed without stunning. (Source)
- Pigs are considered to have an intelligence level equal to that of a 3-year old child.
Videos:
- NARA & ARI – Pig Farm Investigation 2024
- NARA & ARI – Pig Farm Investigation #2
- Behind the walls of Irish pig farming (2019)
- Pigs in intensive Irish farms – Roscommon Animal Rights
- Undercover footage – Roscommon Animal Rights
- Hogwood – documentary
Related Links:
- Ireland’s Pig Industry – NARA
- Pigs – from Compassion in World Farming
- Standard Legal Practise on Irish Farms
- Why Vegan – from Vegan Sustainability Magazine
