No pig should live like this.

Pigs were stuck in mud so deep; some had drowned.  Others were found with horrific, untreated injuries and wounds. And in a shed filled with piglets who had just been taken from their mums, animals were living amongst the dead.

Farm Transparency Project says the suffering they found inside a pig farm in South Australia was the worst they had ever seen – which says a lot given the scope of their investigations across Australian factory farms and slaughterhouses.

Perhaps most disturbing is that this facility is accredited and audited by the Australian pork industry itself. Retailers rely on this accreditation – called APIQ – as a signal that basic animal welfare standards have been met. And this ‘assurance’ passed on to consumers.

And yet, the only reason the extreme suffering of these animals came to light is because a member of the public reported their concerns to Farm Transparency Project.

It’s unknown how long the pigs inside these sheds had been ‘living’ in these shocking conditions – the dead and decomposing bodies of their pen mates, suggest this didn’t happen ‘overnight’.

Complaints have been lodged with South Australian authorities. But this case reinforces a deeper truth: laws that permit the day-to-day cruelty of factory farming create a ‘slippery slope’. Once sentience is allowed to be ignored by an industry, further animal suffering is inevitable.

And had it not been for a concerned member of the public reporting this appalling situation, it would have continued undetected.

The failures revealed by this investigation are damning. Failed laws that allow intelligent and sensitive pigs to be kept in crowded deprivation. Failed oversight that sees even basic standards unadhered to and animal suffering and neglect escalate.

Every pig and piglet on this farm is just as clever and curious as Tottie – the star of our Be their Hero campaign – but unlike Tottie, they have never known comfort, kindness or joy. And they never will.

It’s too late for them. But not for others. And not for a society that will see through the story being sold to them by the pig industry and choose not to support their cruelty.

Join millions of Australians who are shaping a kinder world for these animals by exploring a kinder way of eating. Our free Veg Starter Kit is packed with recipes and tips to help show you the way.