Punched, beaten and left to suffocate: a year on, the cruelty continues at a Scottish trout farm
In late 2025, Animal Equality UK obtained footage from a site (then operated by SeaQure Farming and now by Loch Alba Trout Ltd) showing fish suffocating to death and being punched by workers. Fish that had not been properly stunned were beaten with a priest, a small club used to kill fish, and then cut, only to regain consciousness as they lay on ice.
We filed a complaint with the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), but it led to no meaningful action. The agency did not inspect the site on a slaughter day. Instead, its report put the matter off, stating that a follow-up visit would take place “when 2026 harvest operations begin to observe actual fish being harvested, and review the action points given above.”
So in August 2026, we obtained further footage. The new footage revealed many of the same problems we had documented the first time, with one notable difference: a curtain now stood beside the killing area, apparently put up to keep prying eyes out.
We have submitted a second complaint to APHA, and we will not stop until fish are protected by stronger laws.
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Loch Alba Trout Ltd prides itself on “time-honoured husbandry, care and attention,” but our footage tells a very different story, and no curtain can hide the cruelty we captured at this site.
Abigail Penny, Executive Director of Animal Equality UK, said:
In just a matter of minutes, we documented animals showing unmistakable signs of consciousness after attempted stunning, thrashing desperately in ice and, in one case, being punched by a worker. The company responsible appears to have erected a curtain beside its killing area, seemingly to shield its practices from further scrutiny. Given the disturbing scenes we documented, there is every reason they should be ashamed. Loch Alba Trout Ltd should devote less time worrying about its public image and more time preventing extreme and prolonged animal suffering taking place under its watch.
Continuing, she added: “The regulatory system is dismally failing farmed fish. With too few inspections, weak legal guidance and a lack of meaningful enforcement, organisations like Animal Equality are too often left to uncover these appalling abuses. The Scottish Government should not rely on charities to expose criminality and cruelty. It must urgently introduce species-specific slaughter protections for farmed fish – it’s the least these animals deserve.”
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