Pig farm horror 'on another level'

In a disturbing development to an ongoing story involving the alleged mistreatment of hundreds of pigs at a farm in South Australia, the RSPCA has ordered more than a dozen creatures be euthanised.

The Andgar Piggery, located near the small regional town of Dublin, SA, has become the centre of widespread controversy since a dossier of photos, videos and documents revealed the shocking conditions being experienced by pigs at the farm.

Released in June by the Farm Transparency Project (FTP), a Melbourne-based activist group, the huge catalogue of photos depicts animals living – and dying – in squalor.

Footage shows animals consuming the remains of their dead littermates as other exhausted creatures wade through thick muck, which FTP chief executive Chris Delforce said was “up to their stomachs, at least, if not higher”.

“Just seeing the pigs wading through their own filth … I’ve been investigating piggeries for 13 years or so now, and it’s always a pretty horrific experience … but this place in particular, I think, was kind of on another level,” he said.

RSPCA South Australia released a statement on Tuesday that said its investigation into the Andgar piggery was “progressing”.

“RSPCA inspectorate officers accompanied by PIRSA veterinary staff have conducted two raids of the piggery and 14 pigs have been euthanised,” a spokesman said.

“The RSPCA has issued 21 animal welfare notices instructing the owners and manager to take immediate action regarding conditions and maintenance. They must maintain compliance and the inspectorate is monitoring the operation with spot inspections.”

The RSPCA said the farm’s owners had been formally interviewed as part of a “large and highly complex” investigation, and it is “now preparing a comprehensive brief of evidence with a view to instigate court proceedings”.

“The RSPCA South Australia is empowered to investigate animal cruelty and enforce animal welfare legislation in our state. In addition to issuing animal welfare notices, we can also lay criminal charges,” the spokesman said.

“We acknowledge the distress and concern these images have caused and we want to assure the community that we take any allegation of animal cruelty extremely seriously.”

Despite these comments, Mr Delforce claimed the RSPCA was approached by a whistleblower well before the FTP infiltrated the property.

In screenshots shared to Facebook on Thursday, FTP advertised segments of the anonymous whistleblower’s claims that their partner – somebody who regularly attended the pig farm – “would come home traumatised by some of the cruelty and lack of maintenance and care of animals”.

Mr Delforce said the RSPCA was alerted “a month before” activists arrived at the farm and accused it of allowing “unchecked, unmonitored, unaddressed” cruelty to proliferate.

“It seems the RSPCA is not adequately resourced or funded or motivated to go and inspect these places on their own,” he said

“They are the authority that has been legally assigned to investigate and prosecute cruelty issues in animal farms, and if they’re not doing it, nobody else is doing it.”

One of Andgar’s co-owners spoke to NewsWire earlier this month, saying the piggery was struggling because it “went from four workers to one” and “no one wants to work”.

“Of course the piggery’s never been like that. For all the years we’ve run pigs, they’ve never been like that. It’s just all of a sudden, you’ve got no workers,” he said.

Mr Delforce believes the state and federal government have failed to provide “any support for farmers who want to get out of this industry”.

“I think he should have made the decision to shut down … it’s not an excuse to have pigs drowning in their own waste just because you can’t get employees, so stop breeding them,” he said.

The South Australian government declined to comment on the ongoing RSPCA investigation.

In South Australia, those found guilty of animal cruelty offences can be fined up to $250,000 and/or receive a maximum 10 years in jail.