Secret cameraman claims of ‘brutality’ at Cranswick farm

An investigator who posed as a labourer to secretly film on a pig farm has described what he witnessed as shocking and brutal.

The footage recorded for the Animal Justice Project (AJP) over “several weeks” at Northmoor Farm, Lincolnshire, appears to show “piglet thumping”, a banned method of killing animals.

Cranswick, which owns the farm near Market Rasen, said the footage was unacceptable and it had launched an independent review into its procedures.

Lincolnshire Trading Standards told the BBC it was continuing to work with Lincolnshire Police following the allegations of cruelty.

Speaking to the BBC’s Politics North programme, the animal rights investigator said he applied for the job through a normal recruitment process.

While filming covertly for AJP, he said he witnessed “brutality at every single part of that process”.

He claimed he saw regular “piglet thumping”, a banned method of killing that involves holding a piglet by its hind legs and slamming it to the ground.

He also claimed workers were “desensitised” to the “sickening sound” of the piglets hitting the floor.

The investigator told the BBC he did not try to stop the actions of other workers.

A section of the footage, first reported by the Mail on Sunday newspaper, shows a container piled with piglets that have allegedly been slammed. Some are still alive.

The man said fellow workers failed to check if the piglets were dead, which “makes it worse”.

He said that although such actions were difficult to watch, what he witnessed had “strengthened” his resolve “to help animals”.

A spokesperson for Cranswick, which is based in East Yorkshire, said: “We were incredibly disappointed and saddened to see the unacceptable footage from Northmoor Farm.

“As soon as we saw that footage we acted immediately. We suspended all of our employees and instigated a full investigation.”

They added the behaviour did not reflect current procedures or training.

Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco all suspended use of the farm.

AJP has lodged a legal complaint with trading standards, citing multiple breaches of the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing regulations.

Under the legislation, using blunt trauma to kill pigs is illegal in England.

Lincolnshire Trading Standards said it was taking the incident “extremely seriously”.

A spokesperson said it had inspected the premises and was continuing to review footage, including some not currently in the public domain.

A spokesperson for Red Tractor, the certified standards scheme, said: “The disregard for the care of animals shown in the footage does a disservice to an industry which works hard to uphold animal welfare requirements.

“Red Tractor always acts immediately on reports of poor animal welfare and does not hesitate to sanction members where there is evidence of non-compliance with our standards.”