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Over the last two years, Farm Transparency Project has set out to expose the current state of the Australian pig meat industry with groundbreaking investigations into the confinement and slaughter of pigs in Australia.
Our investigations have exposed:
EcoPiggery
Most recently we investigated the piggery of President of the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) Pig Council, David Wright, who gave evidence during the Victorian Parliamentary inquiry into pig welfare. During the public hearings David Wright gave evidence about the pork industry's adherence to “industry best practices,” and commitment to animal welfare, painting a picture of idyllic pig farms filled with contented pigs and hardworking farmers, under threat from vindictive, aggressive activists, determined to show his industry in a bad light.
In response to these statements, we published an investigation into his piggery in Leitchville, Victoria, revealing shocking conditions of sows, piglets and grower pigs. We documented sows kept in narrow ‘mating stalls’ for over a week, as well as sows and piglets confined to farrowing crates. Many sows had painful, infected pressure sores and were forced to sleep and stand in rivers of their own waste. Sheds contained maggots and pigs were seen eating the bodies of dead kittens as well as sick and dead piglets.
David Wright co-owns this piggery with Colin Sinclair, owner and operator of Benalla slaughterhouse. Pigs from the farm are killed inside the same brutal gas chamber we exposed in early 2023. Read more about the investigation in our editorial.
Midland Bacon
An investigation by our team revealed the mutilation of newborn piglets, which is performed without anaesthetic or pain relief. Hidden cameras also captured the predominant method that Australian piggeries use to kill sick or weak piglets, which is to pick piglets up by their back legs, and slam head-first onto the floor, not a metre away from their mothers who watch on helplessly. In large piggeries, like Midland Bacon near Stanhope, this happens every morning.
Sows endure a repeated cycle of forced impregnation, giving birth, and having their piglets taken away from them. This forced impregnation is done through inserting a vial of boar semen into a sows vagina, after she is manually stimulated by a worker. This kind of sexual abuse and exploitation in any other context would be considered bestiality, but the pig farming industry is granted an exemption because it relies on bestiality for this everyday procedure.
When our investigators installed hidden cameras at Midland Bacon to capture the mutilation and killing of piglets, they also captured the sickening inevitable outcome of the normalisation of sexual abuse. After the lights have gone off in the farrowing shed for the day, a male worker is seen approaching a caged sow from behind, lowering his pants, and r*ping her for several minutes. Confined to a farrowing crate, she has no way to escape.
Our hidden cameras captured a male worker r*ping Olivia, a caged mother pig, in a Victorian piggery
Support farmers to transition out of the pig meat industry and into kinder alternatives.
The only way to end the suffering of pigs in farms and slaughterhouses is to stop breeding and killing them for food. We are calling on governments to support a phaseout of one of the most cruel and unsustainable industries in Australia and choose to support kinder, plant-based alternatives to pig products.
You can also take action as an individual by pledging to stop supporting animal slaughter by leaving animals off your plate and living vegan. Take the pledge today.
For the latest information on our efforts to get Olivia released to an animal sanctuary, please see our 'Free Olivia' FAQ article.
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We've shown time and time again that the Government is acting as nothing more than a pawn for pig slaughter industry lobbyists to manipulate in order to preserve the status quo. If we want to see real change for animals, we can't rely on them to act. It is up to us.
As long as animals are bred, confined and killed for food, there will always be pain, fear and suffering. We will never stop fighting until every cage is empty and every slaughterhouse shut down.
Sign the petition to add your voice to the growing number of people demanding an end to the commercial breeding, confinement and slaughter of gentle, intelligent animals.
Join us in calling on the Victorian government to support a complete end to the commercial breeding, confinement and slaughter of pigs.
Thank you for signing the petition!
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Media release: Tuesday 4 Feb 2025
Footage from five more Victorian piggeries has been released by animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project. The footage was taken by unknown investigators who filmed inside 20 piggeries across the weekend of the 18th & 19th January, before anonymously providing video and photos to Farm Transparency Project. The latest footage to be released shows pigs in filthy conditions, covered in their own waste; high numbers of dead and dying piglets; pigs living in rat infested sheds; and sow stalls, which the Australian pork industry promised to phase out almost 10 years ago. Animal protection organisation Farm Transparency has published footage from...
Media release: Tuesday 28 Jan 2025
Footage from five Victorian piggeries has been released by animal rights organisation Farm Transparency Project, who say that a further 15 will be exposed in the coming weeks. Video taken inside the piggery shows dead and dying piglets, dirty conditions, pigs living in their own waste and sows with large pressure sores, cuts and scratches, evidence of fighting between pigs. The footage was gathered by anonymous, civilian investigators over two nights earlier this month. The investigators then provided the footage, and evidence of the date and location of its capture to Farm Transparency Project to review and publish. Footage from the...
Media release: Tuesday 21 Jan 2025
Animal rights campaigners have laid dozens of dead piglets at the offices of Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan, in a protest against the government's refusal to address "urgent" animal welfare issues. Advocacy group Farm Transparency Project (FTP) organised the protest after receiving footage showing shocking, filthy and cruel conditions at twenty Victorian piggeries, filmed covertly by dozens of activists over the weekend. Further footage and the names of all twenty facilities will be released by FTP in the coming weeks. Animal rights campaigners have gathered outside the ministerial office of Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan, in a protest against the government's continued...
Media release: Tuesday 4 Jun 2024
The piggery of Victorian Farmers Federation Pig Council president David Wright has been targeted by animal advocates who have released new footage showing ‘cruel and sickening’ treatment of pigs on his farm. David Wright gave evidence during the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into pig welfare earlier this year, where he spoke about the high standards he maintains on his farm. Animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project is now calling out the pig industry leader, publishing footage showing mother sows in narrow cages with painful, infected pressure sores, as well as sows in farrowing crates with over a dozen stillborn piglets. View...
Media release: Wednesday 20 Mar 2024
30+ animal activists are protesting outside a Northern Victoria pig farm, after “sickening” bestiality act revealed last week. 30+ animal activists have gathered outside Midland Bacon pig farm in Carag Carag, demanding the release of the sow who last month was captured on camera being raped by a worker, while confined to a farrowing crate. A global petition to free the sow, who activists have named Olivia, has been signed by over 13,000 people. The activists have arrived at the farm with a livestock trailer and are demanding that she be released into the care of an animal sanctuary. The protest has been...
Media release: Monday 11 Mar 2024
Footage captured last month by Farm Transparency Project shows a worker at a Victorian piggery raping a female pig (sow) who is confined in a farrowing crate. The footage, aired exclusively on ABC's 7.30 program, was captured accidentally by the group, who set out to expose routine animal cruelty ahead of the public hearings for the Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into pig welfare, which begin tomorrow (Tue 12 March) in Melbourne. Investigators who captured the footage have said that they were taken completely by surprise by the sickening act, which they reported to authorities as soon as they could. The group have also...
Media release: Monday 8 Jan 2024
Farm Transparency Project has released an interactive virtual-reality tour of a major Victorian piggery, using 360° footage they captured while trespassing in the facility in late 2023. The group states that the tour is their latest way to increase public awareness of modern pig farming practices, and to encourage members of the public to make a submission to the ongoing Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Pig Welfare. The footage shows mother pigs (sows) and piglets in breeding and 'weaner' sheds, and contains embedded videos featuring a guided tour of the facility by Executive Director of Farm Transparency Project, Chris Delforce, who points out...
Media release: Wednesday 11 Jan 2023
Pork giant Sunpork has removed a statement from its website claiming that it has eliminated sow stalls, after an investigation by Farm Transparency Project exposed the use of cages for mother pigs in a piggery owned by the company The statement was on Sunpork's website up until November 2022, but has now been removed following the exposé which revealed the widespread use of sow stalls in Victorian piggeries, 5 years after the industry claimed to have phased them out Sunpork supplies to major supermarkets including Coles and Woolworths, and had proudly claimed themselves to be one of the first pork producers to...
Media release: Wednesday 21 Sep 2022
Media release by Andy Meddick MP (Animal Justice Party Victoria) - An undercover investigation by Farm Transparency Project has revealed at least six Victorian piggeries are confining mother pigs to small cages, despite an industry phase-out deadline of 2017.
Monday 11 Mar 2024 by
Secret recordings show the legal but inhumane way piglets are killed in Victoria but also lead to a man being charged with bestiality.
Monday 11 Mar 2024 by
New allegations of animal cruelty at a Victorian piggery have emerged on the eve of a state parliamentary inquiry into the welfare of farmed pigs. Vision captured inside the piggery has led to calls for a complete overhaul in the way we treat pigs raised for food. Rhiana Whitson reports.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
Animal rights activists who broke into a piggery and installed hidden cameras to record alleged incidents of animal cruelty, found more than they bargained for when the checked the footage.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
A man has been charged with bestiality offences after he was allegedly caught on video by animal activists committing a vile sex act at a pig farm.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
A man has been arrested after police allege a vile act was caught on video at a rural pig farm.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
Animal activist groups have called for an end to commercial pig farming at a state government inquiry into pig welfare in Victoria.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
A pig abattoir worker in central Victoria is facing bestiality charges after being arrested by Victoria Police.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
Agricultural exemptions to animal protection laws are leading to cruelty in Victorian pig processing facilities, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
A man has been filmed on hidden camera allegedly performing a sexual act on an animal at a piggery near Stanhope.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
A man has been charged with bestiality offences after he was allegedly caught on video by animal activists committing a vile sex act at a pig farm.
Tuesday 12 Mar 2024 by
Politicians who stayed for the footage from a Stanhope piggery, including the alleged bestiality of a pig by a worker, watched on in shock as it was played to them at the parliamentary Inquiry into Pig Welfare in Victoria.
Wednesday 13 Mar 2024 by
The man accused of performing a vile act on an innocent sow at a local piggery is the son of the manager of the stockyard, who has been “worried” about animal activists.
Friday 15 Mar 2024 by
A disturbing revelation has emerged from a northern Victorian piggery, sending shockwaves through the agricultural community.
Wednesday 20 Mar 2024 by
Animal activists have vowed they will not give up until Olivia, the sow who was allegedly raped by a piggery worker, is safely secured.
Wednesday 20 Mar 2024 by
Thirty animal activists converged on a piggery near Stanhope demanding the release of a pig which a piggery worker allegedly [raped].
Saturday 6 Apr 2024 by
A few weeks ago, as a survivor of child sexual abuse I launched a call for reform to the Working With Children Check, designed to prevent further abuse. That part of my week was very public. Quietly at home, I was addressing another form of sexual abuse. I watched whistleblower footage of a mother pig being raped by a farmer. My animal advocate friends had been reviewing their hidden camera footage, intended to capture legal cruelty to pigs, and they had found this instead.
Thursday 25 Apr 2024 by
The latest on what we know about the whereabouts of Olivia, the sow who was sexually assaulted by a worker at a Victorian piggery.
Monday 6 May 2024 by
The son of piggery manager is due to face court on bestiality charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a female pig, and activists are now demanding the animal's release.
Monday 10 Jun 2024 by
The VFF pig group president has stepped aside while alleged animal welfare breaches are investigated, following the release of graphic footage allegedly taken at his northern Victorian piggery. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE.
Tuesday 11 Jun 2024 by
Bradley O'Reilly, charged with bestiality against pig, and facing separate charges over alleged violent offences, appeared at Echuca court on June 11.
Tuesday 11 Jun 2024 by
The piggery worker who allegedly violated an innocent pig while he was working will have “further mental health assessments”, a court has heard.
Thursday 20 Jun 2024 by
Animal Justice Party, Green and Victorian Labor MPs have demanded radical animal welfare reforms, as part of a pig welfare inquiry.
Thursday 20 Jun 2024 by
State opposition says the inquiry’s 18 recommendations include ‘extreme restrictions’ that should concern all primary producers
Thursday 20 Jun 2024 by
Victoria’s pork industry could be slapped with “extreme” new guidelines and subject to random on-the-spot compliance checks, but Coalition MPs have called the inquiry process a “political stunt”.
Wednesday 24 Jul 2024 by
An alleged pig rapist strangled a woman multiple times throughout a 10 month period which was described as “egregious” and “appalling” behaviour.
Tuesday 6 Aug 2024 by
A Victorian man is accused of performing an X-rated act with a pig that was inadvertently caught on camera by animal rights activists.
Monday 12 Aug 2024 by
The son of a piggery manager who is charged with bestiality for allegedly having sex with a pig at his father's pork processing farm has been pictured for the first time.
Tuesday 10 Sep 2024 by
VFF pig group president David Wright will remain in his role, despite being sent a letter from Agriculture Victoria asking him to improve animal welfare.
Wednesday 13 Nov 2024 by
An alleged pig rapist will challenge all the evidence against him as “inadmissible” after illegally installed cameras caught the man allegedly raping a sow while he was at work.
Wednesday 13 Nov 2024 by
A court has heard that footage of a Carag Carag man allegedly committing a sexual act against a pig should be considered inadmissible because it was illegally obtained.
Wednesday 13 Nov 2024 by
Tuesday 21 Jan 2025 by
Dozens of dead piglets have been left outside the offices of Premier Jacinta Allan by an animal welfare advocacy group protesting what they say are “shocking” conditions at pig farms across the state.
Tuesday 21 Jan 2025 by
Animal activists have left dead piglets on the steps of a state government building in an effort to seek immediate change to pig welfare.
Tuesday 21 Jan 2025 by
A group of vegan activists have dumped 20 dead piglets outside the office of Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan in a move protesting the government's failure to phase out the pork industry.
Tuesday 21 Jan 2025 by
Almost two dozen dead piglets have been displayed outside premier Jacinta Allan's office as part of an animal welfare protest against Victorian slaughterhouses.
Tuesday 28 Jan 2025 by
Farm Transparency Project, an animal rights organisation, released footage from inside five commercial pig farms on Tuesday, January 28.
Wednesday 29 Jan 2025 by
Animal activists have raided five piggeries in northern Victoria and claim they have exposed examples of animal cruelty.
Wednesday 29 Jan 2025 by
An animal activist group has released footage from five Victorian piggeries which allegedly show dying piglets and injured sows, as industry representatives fight back against the activists.
Friday 31 Jan 2025 by
An animal-rights activist has been charged in relation to the events which led to a man being captured on camera allegedly raping a pig inside a central Victorian stockyard.
Monday 3 Feb 2025 by
An animal activist who broke into a Carag Carag piggery and made secret recordings, including one where a man allegedly had sex with a pig, will now face court herself.
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