• Footage showing pigs suffering from the infectious disease mange, sporting pus-filled abscesses, being cannibalised, and preyed upon by cats and rats, with others confined to 'sow stall' cages, has been released by animal advocacy group Farm Transparency Project.
• The footage was filmed at five Victorian piggeries, which were visited 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 is from piggeries in Whroo, Yarrawalla, Woodstock West, Macorna and Rushworth.

Animal protection organisation Farm Transparency has published footage from five more Victorian pig slaughterhouses, bringing the total up to 20 facilities exposed since the 21st January. 

The latest piggeries to be exposed by the group are Maysleith Piggery (Breeder) in Rushworth, Walla Farms Piggery in Yarrawalla, Bellfield Piggery in Woodstock West, Reedy Lake Grower Piggery in Whroo and Van Der Drift & Sons Piggery in Macorna. The footage shows high numbers of stillborn, dead and dying piglets in farrowing crates, and dead pigs and piglets showing signs of cannibalism and predation. Piglets at Van Der Drift and & Sons suffered from infected wounds and the highly infectious disease, mange, while sows at Maysleith Piggery were seen being eaten alive by rats and were filmed with deep wounds caused by rat bites. Investigators also filmed two 'grower piggeries' which showed pigs fighting due to close quarters and boredom. 

These five piggeries are the final of a mass investigation of Victorian piggeries undertaken by anonymous investigators in January. Over two nights, dozens of animal activists filmed inside 20 pig farms, capturing evidence of intense suffering and filthy conditions. 

Executive Director of Farm Transparency Project, Chris Delforce, says that the Australian pig meat industry is 'entirely irredeemable,' and the government must support farmers to rapidly transition away from a business that is out of sync with Australian values.

"The level of pain and suffering evident in the footage of these piggeries is shocking yet, what decades of investigations into Australian pig farms has shown us is that these farms are not outliers. Infectious disease which can spread to native species, horrific wounds, cannibalism, rat and cat infested sheds, mother pigs slowly going mad in tiny cages; all of this has been accepted by standard by the Australian pig meat industry. This is what the public is unknowingly paying for every time they purchase pork, ham and bacon."

"What we see in the footage we've published today is the reality inside every farm that raises pigs for slaughter. These animals, known to have the same level of intelligence as a three-year old child, are crammed together in rat infested sheds, living and sleeping in their own waste or else confined to tiny cages with barely enough room to lie down. Mother pigs spend hours or days surrounded by the bodies of their dead and dying piglets, unable to reach them or even to prevent themselves from crushing their tiny bodies."

"The reality is, the Australian pig farming contributes 0.029% of Australia's total employment in 2023-2024 and only 2% of Victoria's total value of agricultural production. Yet somehow, the Australian pig industry, led by lobby groups such as Australian Pork Limited, have tricked our government into believing that what they do is essential. For over 10 years, the pig industry has been shown to be one of the largest and most horrific causes of animal suffering in Australia. The time for small improvements has long since past. It needs to be shut down, and it needs to be shut down now."

View the footage and photos: www.farmtransparency.org/campaigns/victorian-piggeries-2025