Andgar Piggery, Dublin SA

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The footage shows pigs living alongside the decomposing bodies of dozens of dead pigs, with some becoming stuck in a giant pile of corpses.

Other footage from the same piggery shows pigs in 'eco sheds' on the property, which are sheds with two or three walls, with at least one side open to the elements. The pigs in these sheds are seen wading through mud and waste, which is often so deep that they are forced to swim. Some pigs had drowned in these sheds, likely after becoming stuck. 

Pigs were filmed with massive, necrotic wounds where infection had eaten through skin down to the bone. One pig had a hole in their back that was roughly 10cm in diameter and packed with straw, mud and faeces. Piglets were also found living amongst the dead and rotting bodies of their littermates.

These visits took place over a month after this farm had been reported to the RSPCA by a member of the public, who was so horrified by the conditions that they knew they had to act. 

Two days after RSPCA investigators attended Dublin piggery following a complaint made by Farm Transparency Project, civilian investigators returned to check conditions. Despite a statement from the RSPCA saying that 'immediate welfare concerns had been addressed' pigs were still found in awful conditions.

One small piglet was discovered with an ear so swollen and misshapen that it dragged their whole head to the side. The investigators were only able to visit a small number of sheds that night but they still found pigs living in filth and with serious injuries. 

We can’t trust the authorities to shut this place down, it’s up to us.

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In June, investigators, acting on information from a member of the public, captured footage inside Andgar piggery in Dublin, South Australia. 

• Pigs housed in ‘eco sheds’ with mud so deep that some pigs were observed to have drowned inside the shed.

• Evidence of cannibalisation and predation from rats.

• Pigs with horrific injuries and wounds, including one pig with a tennis ball size prolapse and one pig with a large hole in their back which appeared to go down to the bone. The hole was packed with straw and faeces.

• A shed of weaned piglets where many of them were dead and decomposing amongst the living pigs.

And none of that was even the worst that we saw. Because upon entering one shed, investigators came across a scene straight out of their nightmares…

They found a pile of hundreds of corpses, some with horrific wounds and all left to rot and decompose. Trapped within this horrible pile were live pigs who had become stuck between the bodies and the metal bars and were unable to escape. 

Investigators spent hours moving the bodies of pigs and trying to free as many live pigs as they could. For some, even when free they were unable to walk, their bodies crushed by the weight of bodies that had pressed into them. 

After receiving this footage, investigators from FTP returned a week later. They found the pile of corpses gone, but dozens of rotting bodies still remained scattered around the shed. Living pigs were observed eating these bodies, some of which were barely recognisable due to decomposition. 

Our visit was over a month after this farm had been reported to the RSPCA by a member of the public, who was so horrified by the conditions that they knew they had to act. 

Take action now to demand that the RSPCA and Department of Environment and Water take urgent action to shut down and prosecute this piggery. 

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