Pig Cruelty Claims: Loopholes Blamed for Animal Abuse

‘The bludgeoning of piglets on concrete floors, the teeth clipping, the tail docking without pain relief, these are all practices that are permitted.’

Pigs are judged at the Dorset County Show, Dorchester, England, on Sept. 4, 2022. Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images

Agricultural exemptions to animal protection laws are leading to cruelty in Victorian pig processing facilities, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.

Video of workers euthanasing piglets by slamming their heads on concrete floors or cutting their tails and teeth without pain relief were shown to inquiry members, along with a video appearing to show a worker performing a sex act on a pig confined to a sow pen.