Pig welfare inquiry participants walk out to avoid seeing footage of alleged bestiality

Warning: This story contains graphic allegations and images of animal cruelty that some readers may find disturbing.

Politicians who stayed for the footage from a 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.

But before the footage was played, as part of a submission from Farm Transparency Project, committee member and Liberal upper house MP Beverley McArthur departed, followed closely by two other coalition MPs.

"I'm going to leave the room because I think it's outrageous that we're presenting this material and I don't want to be here to condone it," Ms McArthur said.

Liberal upper house member for Eastern Region, Dr Renee Heath, and Nationals upper house member for North Victoria, Gaelle Broad, followed Ms McArthur's lead.

Footage, some of which was aired on ABC's 7.30 program on Monday evening, contained vision of piglets being killed using blunt force, along with "surgical" procedures carried out by farm hands with no anaesthetic.

It also showed a man grabbing a pig from behind and thrusting, while it stood trapped in a pen.

Police have charged 30-year-old Bradley O'Reilly from Carag Carag with bestiality. He will appear in court in June.

Some graphic actions in footage not illegal

Dr Heath questioned Jed Goodfellow from Alliance for Animals Australia about whether he thought bestiality was regularly heard of.

"You wouldn't say that was common?" she said.

He responded awkwardly, but addressed the question.

"I would say that that's not common and I would hope that's the case," Mr Goodfellow said.

Allegations of bestiality aside, the inquiry heard that some of the actions in the footage are not illegal but were used as a tool for animal welfare groups to educate consumers about piggeries.

 

 

Farm Transparency Project filmed Midland Bacon near Stanhope in Victoria for 18 days, and told the inquiry ongoing surveillance was the only way of knowing whether animal welfare breaches were one-offs or systemic problems.

Harley McDonald-Eckersall from Farm Transparency Project told the inquiry while many facilities had CCTV it was not for the monitoring of animal welfare.

"They're mainly used internally so if a worker has an injury or an incident then they might be reviewed," she said.

"The fact that we entered these facilities and installed cameras and weren't caught on camera shows just how little they review this footage."

The Inquiry into Pig Welfare in Victoria will continue on Wednesday, hearing from pork industry bodies.