Animal Equality investigation uncovers pigs bagged, stabbed and illegally slaughtered in India
Between February and July 2024, Animal Equality launched a comprehensive investigation into the conditions faced by pigs at farms, markets, and slaughterhouses across Maharashtra, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand. In every single location, investigators uncovered widespread violations of India’s animal protection laws, exposing the systemic cruelty plaguing the pig farming industry.
A nation’s laws Ignored
India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 prohibits any person from inflicting, causing, or if it is the owner, permitting, unnecessary pain or suffering to be inflicted on any animal. The Act makes it a crime to beat, kick, torture, mutilate, administer an injurious substance, or cruelly kill an animal.
Our team visited six farms and three slaughter sites and revealed that these laws are blatantly violated. Workers routinely beat, stab, and subject pigs to unspeakable cruelty, defying the legal protections meant to shield them.
Behind closed doors
The animals stand in their own waste in cramped, filthy conditions making them vulnerable to disease. Pigs naturally avoid soiling their surroundings, but here, excrement pools around them with nowhere to go.
Proper feed is scarce. Instead, farmers collect discarded food waste from restaurants. One admitted it was a way to cut costs.
Despite the legislation, our investigation showed that violence on pig farms is rife, with workers beating pigs with sticks to force them from pens, leaving bruises across their bodies.
Pigs on the street tied and bagged
Stray pigs roaming the streets are often captured and slaughtered, their flesh sold in low-income communities. Caught by locals, these animals are tied by their legs and shoved into bags, their screams echoing as they are transported to slaughter sites on rickshaws or scooters.
Illegally slaughtered in plain sight
Under Indian law, animals must be slaughtered in licensed facilities. Yet, investigators found pigs illegally killed in unregulated meat shops and open markets.
In 2015, Animal Equality found pigs in Kerala bludgeoned with hammers. During this investigation, pigs were repeatedly stabbed in the heart as workers held their wounds open, forcing them to bleed out.
Recommendations presented to the Government of India
The ongoing abuse in India’s pig farming industry demonstrates a catastrophic failure to enforce animal protection laws.
Animal Equality has presented recommendations to the Government of India urging stronger protections for pigs, similar to the existing standards for chickens and hens.
A petition calling on the Government of India to adopt these measures is now underway.
Global scope of abuse
The cruelty uncovered in India is not an isolated issue. Animal Equality’s global investigations have exposed similar stories in factory farms and slaughterhouses worldwide. These abuses, often hidden behind legal loopholes and insufficient inspections, prove that animal cruelty continues unchecked in factory farming systems.
The UK
A 2024 Animal Equality investigation into a Red Tractor farm revealed a string of abuses, both legal and illegal, showing that the UK laws, and the monitoring and enforcement of those laws, are seriously inadequate.
We found piglets ‘thumped’ and killed against concrete walls, piglets having their tails cut off and their teeth ‘clipped’ without anaesthetic, and paperwork showing that dead piglets had died from starvation, sickness, or after being crushed. Mother pigs were in cages, showing repetitive behaviours, such as bar-biting – a sign of psychological distress. Some were suffering from red, raw leg sores and vulval prolapses.
The inadequacy of legislation alone
Undercover investigations have repeatedly exposed illegal actions in the UK and across the globe, proving that even the strongest laws are meaningless without rigorous enforcement.
In our joint report, Animal Equality and The Animal Law Foundation highlighted the Enforcement Problem, revealing that non-compliance with animal protection law is endemic on UK farms and across all production systems. We calculated that on average, between 2018-2021, that fewer than 3% of the UK’s 290,000 farms are inspected each year, only half of complaints result in inspections, and only 0.33% lead to prosecution.
The way forward
Without proper oversight and meaningful consequences, even the strongest laws are failing to protect animals.
That’s why Animal Equality is pushing for tougher penalties for animal abuse, and greater transparency to ensure stronger scrutiny and accountability on farms. And why we’re urging the UK Government to direct subsidies away from animal farming entirely.
The UK has the potential to lead the way on this issue. If we succeed in securing these amendments, it could spark a global movement, inspiring countries around the world to follow suit. But we need your support to make this happen.
Join us in demanding change
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Our team works incredibly hard to expose animal abuse so that, together, we can end it.
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