Undercover footage has revealed “systemic” violence being inflicted on boars at a Norfolk farm linked to those supplying pork and ham to UK supermarkets – including some boasting high-welfare labels.
In harrowing scenes, workers repeatedly hit the animals with pitchforks and pipes, the investigation found.
Over 781 hours of secret filming by Animal Justice Project (AJP) showed the boars enduring relentless mistreatment, including being kicked and beaten when they resisted mounting stools used for semen collection.
The footage, shown by The Independent to Red Tractor, the UK’s largest food and farm standards scheme, prompted the organisation to suspend the farm’s certification, and farm owner Innovis suspended two employees.
It is the first known investigation at a UK boar farm that supplies semen to pigs slaughtered for meat, and some customer farms are organic or under the controversial RSPCA Assured label.
Activists claim the abuse was widespread behind closed doors.
An activist who worked undercover at Innovis’s Burgh Castle facility described harrowing conditions including:
The footage also shows at least two pigs being hit in the face and another having a gate slammed onto its face.
“It was violence for violence’s sake,” said AJP director Claire Palmer. “This wasn’t stressed workers lashing out occasionally; this was routine, systemic abuse.
“The boars live six years like this, never feeling grass underfoot or sunlight on their backs.”
Campaigner Alice Brough, a former pig vet, said: “The force used in handling these animals, who show no aggression towards workers, is beyond excessive, and employs inappropriate tools as weapons to inflict pain and fear.”
Innovis owns and controls the farm, supplying genetics giant Hermitage with boar semen for pig farms.
Innovis’s chief executive, Dewi Jones, told The Independent that two staff have been suspended and an official investigation launched. “The video content is shocking and wholly unacceptable. We are appalled,” he said.
Innovis operates to the highest health and welfare standards, he said, adding: “A specialist pig vet makes weekly visits, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency inspects the facilities every six months.”
He said the claims over general conditions were unfounded but extra cameras had been installed.
A spokesperson for Hermitage unreservedly condemned the behaviour.
“We have conveyed our deep dissatisfaction to senior management at Innovis. We emphasised that such treatment is completely unacceptable and falls far short of what is expected of a commercial supplier,” they said.
They said Hermitage would cut ties with Innovis until assurances had been received.
The company said a decision on the animals’ future would be based on what was best for them.
The British Retail Consortium said breaches of animal welfare were totally unacceptable and would be investigated, with swift action taken to rectify any issues.
The RSPCA said: “We are concerned about the welfare of animals on stud farms and this is one of many welfare improvements we would like to see across farming.”
AJP says it is seeking prosecutions.
