After more than 23,000 of you signed our petition to DEFRA, calling on them to enforce the piglet ‘thumping’ ban, I can finally bring you an update. Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, emailed me directly stating they’ve “received a high volume of correspondence about the on-farm killing of piglets”, but his response lacks integrity and any follow-through. I’ve pulled out the key points of his response below.

“Potential breaches of animal health and welfare legislation are taken very seriously. The allegations of poor animal welfare at Northmoor Farm are being investigated by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) and the local authority. APHA has also provided formal advice to the owner on what steps must be taken to be compliant with the animal welfare legislation.” - Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs

It should not be up to organisations like Animal Justice Project to highlight the grotesque illegalities taking place on pig farms across the nation. DEFRA has a responsibility but pig farmers literally get away with murder.

Further to this response, I wrote to Cranswick during their AGM and they have clearly stated that they have “banned the use of so called "piglet thumping" on all of our farms”. If this is true, it is going to send a clear message to everyone in the pig industry. If the biggest player in the pig farming world is ending this illegal act, it will undoubtedly put pressure on the entire industry to stop too.

I am under no pretenses that this is a very simple step towards ending pig farming, but if we cannot even get the government to implement the current laws -- which by no means ‘protect’ pigs anyway -- then our aim to bring this industry down is an even bigger task than any of us could have imagined.

I sincerely hope that this is a big move towards ending piglet ‘thumping’ once and for all, several years after it was made illegal. This is going to drive us to keep pushing forward and keep tackling issues in pig farming, whilst we advocate for a future where pigs are no longer imprisoned and exploited on farms, and where they are free to be themselves.

We’re keeping the momentum going, and we have a huge launch very soon, which is going to have big knock-on effects within the industry. Keep your eyes peeled!

As always,

For the animals.