Aussie Pigs

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Over two months in 2012, activists installed cameras and documented cruelty inside Wally's Piggery NSW, just a short drive from Canberra. The footage and photographs were provided to RSPCA NSW, NSW Police, and the NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI), who orchestrated a raid on the piggery, however it later became known that the DPI had tipped off the facility about the raid. 53 charges of animal cruelty were eventually laid by the RSPCA but later dropped after pressure from the DPI. 

Following the raid, the material was published and achieved widespread media coverage, causing significant public outrage; the 'Aussie Pigs' campaign had begun. In frantic damage control mode, the industry's peak body Australian Pork Limited tried to claim that Wally's was a one-off, a "rogue operator" - so the activists set out to prove them wrong.

About pig farming

Pig farming in Australia is over 90% factory or intensive farming. In these kinds of farms there is a very routine structure for how each stage of the life of a pig is lived, beginning in what’s called a ‘farrowing crate’ and ending in a ‘finisher’ pen. A ‘farrowing crate’ is a pen roughly 2m by 1.5m in size made usually of cement or wood where mother pigs (sows) and their piglets live while they are suckling. Within that pen there is a metal contraption which restricts the mother to one position, able only to move a few inches forwards or backwards. The piglets move from either feeding with mother, or laying beside her. If the floor is made of cement there is casual manual cleaning of waste from the pigs. If the flooring is wood, there are gaps in the wooden slats for drainage of faeces and urine. The drainage however is often not effective and these gaps can also be traps for piglets’ little bodies and legs.

During this time the piglets will have their teeth cut and their tails removed to avoid frustration-caused aggression injuries on each other, and they will be castrated, all without pain relief. Runt and sick piglets perish here. Corpses are often seen laying in these pens, either left to die or killed by workers. And mother pig very often suffers from pressure sores due to the hard surfaces she lays on continuously.

The next stage in a farmed pig’s life is a weaner pen. Weaner pens are often in the same shed as the farrowing crates or near by. They have much larger areas for holding the piglets from the farrowing crates once they are weaned from their mothers. Again, weaner pens contain mostly cement or wooden flooring, with metal fencing. Similarly, ‘grower’ and ‘finisher’ pens are for keeping pigs as they develop through the last two stages of growth until they are about 6 months of age and sent to slaughter. These pens usually fill entire sheds and are often at a completely different location to where the pigs are born. During these stages pigs become increasingly agitated due to their high intellect, confinement, poor conditions and boredom. They often lash out at each other violently, at times causing serious injuries despite their teeth having been cut as piglets.

After the farrowing crate a mother sow moves to a similarly sized restraint on her own called a ‘sow stall’, or in a group housing area for female pigs. She is then artificially inseminated by farmers and waits in the group housing pen or sow stall during her 4 month pregnancy before being taken back to the farrowing crate to start all over again. This continues for as many times as a pig can physically endure, and still be able to produce a financially viable number of live piglets. The restricted movement causes muscle wastage which quickens their physical decline. To reduce this effect, often as a part of their duty, workers encourage sows to stand up each day by yelling at and hitting the sows. Despite having a wild lifespan of up to 20 years, after 2-3 years the sows are then sent to slaughter.

Read about Australian pig farming in the Knowledgebase

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Cruelty and abuse are inherent to the animal slaughter industry, including meat, dairy, eggs, fur, wool and leather. Much of this cruelty is legal, due to exemptions in animal welfare legislation that specifically permit acts of cruelty towards farmed animals, that would be illegal if performed on dogs or cats.

The only way to truly stop cruelty to farmed animals is to stop eating them. Take the pledge today to leave animals off your plate and live vegan - be part of a growing movement towards a kinder, more sustainable world, and take a stand against industries that harm and exploit animals.

• Director of animal charity Farm Transparency Project raided by police

  Media release: Tuesday 12 Aug 2025

  The founding director of animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP), Chris Delforce, has been raided by Victoria Police at his Melbourne home this morning, in relation to footage of animal cruelty captured earlier this year at twenty piggeries in the state's north. Delforce's electronic devices including phones and laptops have been seized. The footage, captured by a large number of anonymous activists and provided to FTP, revealed widespread suffering, neglect, and potential breaches of animal welfare legislation, including:  Pigs living in extreme confinement in their own waste, including in "sow stalls" claimed by the industry to...
• Protestors gather outside 'horrific' South Australian piggery to demand its closure

  Media release: Saturday 19 Jul 2025

  Up to 100 protestors are currently gathered outside Andgar Piggery in Dublin, north of Adelaide The protestors are demanding the closure of the facility, following the release of footage captured by Farm Transparency Project which revealed extreme suffering and neglect at the facility A large protest has formed outside the gates of Andgar Piggery north of Adelaide, following the release of footage earlier this month by animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project (FTP). The footage, captured across two nights in June, showed pigs living in deep pools of their own waste, others with large untreated injuries, and a pile of...
• Pigs left to rot at 'horrifying' South Australian Piggery

  Media release: Friday 4 Jul 2025

  Animal activists have released footage showing living pigs struggling to escape a pile of the rotting corpses of up to 100 dead pigs inside a South Australian piggery. Pigs are seen living alongside and cannibalising the decomposing bodies of dead pigs, who have been left to rot inside the piggery's sheds. Other footage from the same facility shows pigs drowning in mud and waste in outdoor sheds and others with infected and necrotic wounds.  Animal cruelty investigators from Farm Transparency Project have released shocking new images and footage from Dublin Piggery in South Australia. The footage, which was captured across...
• 5 more Victorian piggeries exposed by animal activists

  Media release: Tuesday 11 Feb 2025

  Footage from five more Victorian piggeries has been released by animal protection organisation Farm Transparency Project. The footage was taken by unknown investigators who filmed inside 20 piggeries across the weekend of the 18th & 19th January, before anonymously providing video and photos to Farm Transparency Project. The latest footage to be released is from piggeries in Leitchville, Bagshot North, St Arnaud and Tragowel. Animal protection organisation Farm Transparency has published footage from five more Victorian pig slaughterhouses, bringing the total up to 15 facilities exposed since the 21st January.  The latest piggeries to be exposed by the group are Hancock...
• Footage from five Victorian piggeries released by activists, 15 more to follow

  Media release: Tuesday 28 Jan 2025

  Footage from five Victorian piggeries has been released by animal rights organisation Farm Transparency Project, who say that a further 15 will be exposed in the coming weeks. Video taken inside the piggery shows dead and dying piglets, dirty conditions, pigs living in their own waste and sows with large pressure sores, cuts and scratches, evidence of fighting between pigs. The footage was gathered by anonymous, civilian investigators over two nights earlier this month. The investigators then provided the footage, and evidence of the date and location of its capture to Farm Transparency Project to review and publish. Footage from the...

See all 7 media releases

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