New documentary aims to shine a light on horrific practices in australia’s pig farming industry

A new feature-length documentary by animal rights group Aussie Farms, entitled “Lucent”, begins screening across Australia on October 17. The film contains footage from over 50 Australian farms and slaughterhouse, much of which has never been released.

The announcement comes as the organisation exposes a 30^th Australian piggery for cruelty (via the website www.aussiepigs.com) since the campaign began in 2012, another owned by Australia’s largest pig farming company Rivalea.

Chris Delforce, Operations Director of Aussie Farms and producer of Lucent, said, “Lucent comprehensively busts two common myths about Australian animal agriculture – that cruelty ‘doesn’t happen here in Australia like it does in other countries’, and that any cruelty that does occur here is limited to ‘rogue operators’ and doesn’t represent the industry as a whole.”

“The film focuses almost entirely on the industry-standard, legal practices that, despite being so widespread, have remained hidden from the public; practices such as prolonged confinement, surgical mutilation without pain relief, artificial insemination, filthy and crowded ‘free range’ sheds, the use of gas chambers at all major pig slaughterhouses, and much more. These are all practices that we would never allow to be carried out on dogs, yet pigs – who are just as intelligent – are afforded no legal protection from this relentless abuse and exploitation.”

The film also goes behind the scenes of a recent, highly prolific investigation by animal activists.

Screenings commence in Sydney on October 17, followed by Canberra, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. More information about the film and the screenings, along with the first official trailer, can be found at www.aussiepigs.com/lucent.