Animal Equality exposes pigs struggling and screaming at Italian slaughterhouse

Investigative footage released by Animal Equality in Italy revealed conscious pigs screaming and struggling during slaughter, sparking a criminal complaint and widespread media coverage. 

• Between 2023 and 2024, Animal Equality exposed conditions at a pig slaughterhouse in Cremona, Italy.
• Footage reveals conscious pigs screaming, struggling to stand, and experiencing prolonged suffering during slaughter.
• Italian veterinarian Dr. Enrico Moriconi reviewed the footage, citing severe animal cruelty violations.
• The footage released aired on TGR Lombardia and was covered by major Italian news outlets.
• Supported by a criminal lawyer, Animal Equality filed a complaint against the slaughterhouse for unlawful handling and slaughter practices.
• This exposé reflects a global issue, with similar animal cruelty reported in the UK meat industry.

Between 2023 and 2024, Animal Equality exposed conditions inside a pig slaughterhouse in Cremona, Italy. This facility – owned by a company called Belli – slaughters thousands of pigs each year. 

The footage released depicts widespread violence against animals, much of it in violation of Italian animal protection laws. Veterinarian Dr. Enrico Moriconi, who reviewed the footage, described the actions as serious breaches of animal welfare standards.The investigation aired during prime time on Italy’s popular news program, TGR Lombardia. Other major news outlets–including Il Giornale, Telecolor, La Gazzetta di Mantova, and Affari Italiani–also featured the story.

Rampant cruelty exposed 

Animal Equality’s investigation uncovered rampant cruelty in the slaughterhouse, including:

• Pigs crammed into a stunning cage meant for just one animal.
• Workers hitting pigs who didn’t move quickly enough and slamming them against the metal cage door.
• Pigs still conscious after stunning and throat-slitting, with many seen breathing, blinking, and crying out as they moved down the conveyor belt.
• A worker holding down a screaming pig, who had attempted to stand after their throat was slit twice.
• A piglet, throat cut, struggling to stand as blood poured out.
• Animals waiting hours or days to be slaughtered, forced to witness other deaths.

Veterinarian’s verdict on animal suffering

Veterinarian Dr. Enrico Moriconi reviewed the footage, concluding that workers’ actions caused clear, avoidable suffering. He noted that workers ignored visible signs of distress, continuing their tasks despite the animals’ pain.

Animal Equality files complaint over slaughter practices

Like in the UK, according to Italian animal protection laws, causing unnecessary pain, distress, or suffering is a criminal offence. That’s why Animal Equality – supported by a criminal lawyer – has filed a complaint against the Belli company. 

Footage from Cremona reflects a broader issue: global investigations reveal that animal protection laws are routinely ignored in slaughterhouses, with animals often seen as commodities.

A global problem: cruelty beyond borders

This exposé in Italy is not an isolated case of animal cruelty. 

Similar instances of abuse and neglect have been uncovered on factory farms in Germany, Spain, Mexico, the US and even on accredited farms in the UK.

At Cross Farm in Devon, England, a Red Tractor-certified facility supplying Tesco, our team documented harrowing conditions across six visits in 2023-2024. We captured over 100 hours of footage, exposing piglets being ‘thumped’ and killed against concrete walls, having their tails cut off without anaesthetic, and being crushed alive as their mothers attempted to turn around in cages.

Worldwide, Animal Equality is fighting back. In Italy, we’re pursuing legal action against the company operating the slaughterhouse and advocating for plant-based farming. In the US, we’re calling on corporations like Denny’s to end the use of cages for mother pigs. Here in the UK, we are urging the Government to hold abusers accountable, enforce stricter regulations with unannounced inspections, and support farmers in transitioning to arable farming.

Over an 11 year period, Animal Equality UK has investigated 50 farms and slaughterhouses, finding prolonged animal suffering, deliberate abuse or neglect, and/or illegality taking place every single time. Animal Equality’s evidentiary footage, spanning over a decade, is a growing indictment of this failing industry.

The Government must work with Animal Equality to put in place critical changes to the legal framework, including the following:

• Implement a licensing system for farms;
• Breaches of licences will result in non renewal and prosecution;
• Inspections required for licence renewal which will be at least every 1-3 years, depending on the farm’s size;
• Those inspections must be robust and occasionally unannounced;
• Appropriate penalties for all farms found not complying with their licences and the law.

Laws are broken time and time again. On every pig farm Animal Equality UK has ever visited pigs have been routinely tail-docked; over a six year period we visited four dairy farms and on each we found severe animal suffering and illegality; and in a sheep slaughterhouse we discovered a Food Standards Agency inspector giving their nod of approval for clear non-compliance. Our investigators have looked into facilities accredited by Red Tractor, Quality Meat Scotland, Best Aquaculture Practices, The Soil Association and more, documenting illegality across the board.

This doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. With over 300,000 slaughterhouses in the UK, it is not possible for Animal Equality to visit every single facility. How many animals will suffer the same cruelty behind closed doors?

The public puts its faith in accreditation schemes, awards and Government and local authorities, but consumers are being conned.

Public body inspections are few and far between. With fewer than 3% of farms being inspected each year, crimes to farmed animals are rarely detected.

Non-compliance is rife. Where inspections do occur, 31% identify non-compliance with animal welfare regulations and inspectors directly observe animals suffering ‘unnecessarily’ in one in 30 visits to uncertified farms.

Consequences are all but non-existent. When wrongdoing is detected it is too often left to the charities to apply the necessary pressure and ensure action is taken. Between 2017-2019 there were 80 convictions of cruelty to farmed animals under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, compared to 2,662 for dogs. Considering that over one billion animals are farmed and slaughtered each year in the UK, this number of convictions is extremely low. This lack of action is failing to disincentivise legal violations on farms.

The Government and local authorities must end their overreliance on charities, take ownership, and hold animal abusers accountable for their actions. The current regulatory framework is a wholly inadequate safeguard to ensure legal compliance. It is simply not fit for purpose. Already vulnerable farmed animals are being left at the whims of an industry that wants only to commoditise them.

We, the undersigned, are calling for improved monitoring and enforcement of existing animal welfare laws and for increased legal protections to be put in place for farmed land and aquatic animals.

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