Animal Activists Shut Down Two Piggeries and Expose Animal Abuse on Another Owned by a Peak Pig Industry Leader

This week the campaign by Animal Liberation ACT and NSW to expose the realities of Australian pig farming achieved another victory when the closure of two piggeries was confirmed.

Jess Ferry, spokesperson for Animal Liberation ACT, said: "Last year Animal Liberation exposed the horrific realities of the pig meat industry in Australia when footage from two piggeries operating near Canberra was released. The two pig factories were Wally's piggery and Tennessee piggery, both run by the same company. Today we can confirm that those two piggeries have closed. If Animal Liberation hadn't brought to light the appalling nature of those piggeries, there is no doubt that they would be continuing today.

"Sadly, however, those two piggeries were not simply the 'bad apples' of the industry. Animal Liberation will continue to expose the horrendous treatment of animals that is inherent in the Australian pig meat industry."

The next stage of Animal Liberation's campaign reveals the ghastly reality of female pigs confined in individual stalls in another piggery. 'Lansdowne', two hours from Canberra in central NSW, is an intensive piggery owned by Ean Pollard, the Chairman of the NSW Farmers' Association Pork Committee.

In an eight minute video containing continuous, unedited footage from Lansdowne, 'ordinary life' for hundreds of female pigs kept in individual crates of misery known as 'sow stalls' is revealed.

Mark Pearson, spokesperson for Animal Liberation (NSW), said: "These are the stalls that the pig meat industry is committed to keep using until at least 2017. It's ironic that the industry justifies the use of these cages by claiming they reduce the stress on sows. Yet this footage demonstrates the unrelenting physical and mental suffering that these pigs endure when caged behind iron bars for months on end. This harrowing footage lasts for only eight minutes-but it seems a lifetime. And for these pigs, it is.

"The incredible thing is that the shocking reality revealed in the footage is considered to be 'standard'. This is a piggery run by the Chair of the NSW Farmer's Pork Committee, and the industry has backed the use of these cages until 2017 and beyond."

Animal Liberation considers that what animals endure in the farming of pigs is ethically unacceptable. According to Ms Ferry, "We are committed to exposing the treatment which these animals routinely encounter behind closed doors. As our campaign states - what's done in the dark will be brought to the light!"

The footage can be seen at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y61YsJxEQ2s