Pigs beaten with pitchforks at boar farm, footage shows

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 that boast high-welfare labels.

- JANE DALTON

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 operate 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:

• Boars confined to barren concrete pens, smaller than recommended by government codes, with little access to natural light or darkness for rest