The pig's death

Wild boars are social animals that thrive in wooded areas. Their groups typically have a matriarchal structure, consisting of two to five closely related females and their young. When young adult boars reach 7 to 8 months old, they leave their family groups and often form small groups of 2 to 3 individuals. Adult boars, those older than 3 years, usually prefer to live alone. However, during mating season, these boars temporarily join groups.

A family group of pigs can have a home range that varies from less than 100 hectares to over 2,500 hectares, depending on food availability. They use higher, densely wooded areas for resting and nesting. In contrast, they forage in lower, more open areas.

Pigs are mainly active during the day, especially in the morning and evening. Their daily routine revolves around exploring and foraging. With their distinctive snouts, pigs focus on the ground, sniffing, nibbling, and rooting in the soil. They enjoy taking their time while foraging. Their body structure, which includes a relatively heavy trunk, isn’t built for speed. Pigs rarely run, and when they do, it’s usually only for a short distance of a few meters. While they can walk long distances at a brisk pace, it’s primarily young adults and solitary boars that travel these longer distances.

The nose is the most important sense for pigs. It helps them forage for food and explore their surroundings. Pigs have poor eyesight, with limited color vision and trouble judging distances. For instance, they struggle to tell the difference between a dark spot and a shadow or a potential hole. This makes pigs very cautious when entering new areas. They carefully sniff the ground and any obstacles. Besides smell, hearing is also crucial for pigs. Unfamiliar sounds can signal danger and startle them.

In hot weather, pigs enjoy taking mud baths to cool down. This behavior is also known as "soaking." Pigs do not handle summer heat effectively. They lack functional sweat glands, but they do have a layer of fat and skin that can be sensitive to sunburn. In hot weather, pigs pant, but heat loss through panting is limited. Taking a mud bath helps lower their skin and body temperature and reduces the increased breathing rate caused by heat. Pigs typically start panting when temperatures reach around 20 degrees Celsius.^[1]

Animals rest and sleep for a significant part of the day, often between 16 to 19 hours. At night, they gather in a communal nest. Pigs value cleanliness in their resting area and will defecate in a separate spot, typically 5 to 15 meters away from the nest.

Within family groups, a hierarchy forms, placing the older and heavier pigs at the top of the pecking order. Pigs build strong social bonds with one another and coordinate their activities. For example, they often sleep together in a communal nest or forage as a group.

Due to the hierarchy in the group, aggression is uncommon. Conflicts over food usually involve some threatening and imposing behavior, after which the socially inferior pig backs off. However, pigs from different groups are rarely accepted. Typically, animals from separate groups stay at least 50 meters apart. Occasionally, confrontations happen, leading to fights. These fights can last between 30 to 60 minutes, but most conflicts are resolved after 2 to 3 quick and intense attacks. The losing pig turns away and flees.

Communication among pigs is essential. Their strong sense of smell enables them to identify one another by scent and also helps them convey information. For instance, if a pig detects the urine of stressed pigs in a specific location, it will steer clear of that area.^[2]

Pigs communicate through body language and vocalizations. Body language is mainly used during confrontations. Dominant pigs may scratch with their forelegs, raise their back hairs, or turn their heads toward another pig with a slightly open mouth. In contrast, frightened and submissive pigs will tuck their ears, lower their heads, let their tails droop, and move away. Pigs are also affected by the emotional states of other pigs and even humans, which can be seen as a basic form of empathy.^[3]

For identification and coordination of group activities, pigs often communicate using vocalizations. Researchers have identified over twenty distinct pig sounds. These include grunts, which pigs use to convey contentment to one another, grunts that express displeasure, sounds that indicate an animal's location or call group members together, and cries that express fear and pain. Pigs even have a special "warning bark" to alert each other to danger. This ‘bark’ is then picked up by the other group members, after which the animals ‘freeze’ (stand motionless) or flee.^[4]

Pigs are recognized for their intelligence. For instance, pigs can differentiate between objects of various colors and shapes; they possess a sense of time; they can recognize different individuals (both pigs and humans); they have a strong long-term memory; and they excel at certain games more than dogs and primates.^[5]

Not all of pigs' cognitive abilities are fully understood yet. At the end of 2019, ecologist Meredith Root-Bernstein published research that established for the first time that pigs use tools to build their nests. Root-Bernstein also strongly suspects that pigs can share their knowledge of tool use with other group members and their offspring.^[6]

Scientific studies indicate that wild boars and domesticated pigs in the pig industry share similar basic behavioral traits. Meat pigs are typically slaughtered at around six to seven months old, but they can naturally live for 10 to 20 years, depending on the breed.

Other sources: RDA. Natural Behavior of Pigs. RDA Advisory Report 2006/5: pp. 19-30^[7]

::external-video{url="https://vimeo.com/738230400"} :: Expert literature shows that transporting animals to slaughterhouses is highly stressful. Trucks that can hold up to 205 pigs are transported day and night from pig farms. Before transport, the pigs must fast for 12 to 18 hours to limit manure production and salmonella contamination on the trucks and in the slaughterhouse.^[8] The animals have spent their lives in a pen and are confronted with unfamiliar circumstances and new conspecifics (from different pens and farms) during transport and at the slaughterhouse. Pigs are accustomed to slatted floors in barns and are uncomfortable moving across the smoother floors of trucks and loading ramps. Slipping and falling is a common occurrence.^[9] Studies have also observed aggressive behavior in pigs during transport, especially when unfamiliar animals are transported together. In trucks, socially vulnerable animals have no space to avoid dominant animals. The animals sustain scratches and bite wounds during these confrontations. Movements of the truck, sudden braking, sharp turns and high speeds also lead to stress, falls and injuries.^[10] During the summer months, pigs are at high risk of heat stress during transport. The national plan for livestock transport in extreme temperatures prohibits the transport of pigs at temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius.^[11] However, according to experts, the animals can experience heat stress from temperatures of 25 to 27 degrees Celsius, causing them to pant heavily to lose heat. Normally, in hot weather, pigs try to avoid contact with each other and lie down stretched out on the floor to cool off.^[12] They do not have these opportunities in trucks. Trucks often have to queue to be unloaded upon arrival at the slaughterhouse, sometimes forcing the animals to spend several hours in the heated loading areas. Severe heat stress can lead to heart failure and death.^[13] Upon arrival at the slaughterhouse, pigs are chased out of the trucks with loud firecrackers. Chasing pigs by frightening them cannot be considered humane in any way. Continuously making noise with firecrackers, rapid movements, and also shouting and clapping leads to stress in the pigs. They become excited but have no opportunity to exhibit escape behavior in the slaughterhouse. Sometimes pigs can even literally freeze with fear and refuse to move. Moreover, the firecrackers are primarily used to hit animals.^[14] Scientific research by WUR (Wageningen University & Research) indicates that the heart rate of pigs increases sharply during the loading and unloading of trucks, indicating a high level of stress (15). Beating with squeezing agents leads to bubbling in the pigs. Histological examination in slaughterhouses shows that more than 90% of the bruises found on pig carcasses occur in the hours before slaughter, as a result of the hoisting for transport and in the slaughterhouse.^[16] Confrontation with unfamiliar pigs in the slaughterhouse is also a stressor. Partly because the animals are already out of their normal state during transport and their stay in the slaughterhouse, and they have little opportunity to avoid confrontation, this leads to a significant level of stress. When pigs that don't know each other are housed together in a holding pen, this leads to unrest and fighting, because the hierarchy has to be re-established.^[17] The undercover footage that Ongehoord captured at the Westfort pig slaughterhouse in Ijsselstein confirms the stressful conditions in which pigs are delivered. Animals slip on the feces-smeared floors of trucks and loading ramps, emerge from the loading areas overheated and exhausted, and show welts and wounds. Screaming and hitting during unloading is the norm. Transporters knock pigs out of the trucks, and employees chase the animals violently and at high speed off the loading ramps. Animals too weak to stand are pushed or pulled by the tail. We see how a young child of an employee is allowed to spend a day beating pigs in the slaughterhouse. Pigs found dead in the trucks are thrown into carcass bins as waste. When the pigs are herded into the holding pens, congestion occurs, with animals bumping into and jumping on each other. These congestions are "resolved" by hitting the pigs. Pigs squeal when workers pull their ears while checking ear tags.

Gassing or electrocuting

According to European regulations (REGULATION (EC) No 1099/2009), animals must be stunned (anaesthetised) before slaughtering.^[18] Stunning refers to the process of rendering animals unconscious and insensible. Dutch slaughterhouses typically use two methods for stunning pigs: electrical stunning or CO2 stunning. The automated electrical stunning systems can cause significant stress and anxiety for pigs during herding and restraint prior to the stunning procedure. From the holding pens, pigs are herded in groups to the stunning system. Upon arrival, the animals must be separated from the group and restrained in a row. Since pigs are social animals, this situation is very unnatural and stressful for them. Due to the challenges in herding and restraining the animals, the overall stress period during the electrical stunning process can last from 60 to 120 seconds. Once restrained, the pigs are moved into the system on a conveyor belt. There, electrodes are placed against their heads to conduct an electric current through their brains. This triggers an epileptic seizure, rendering the animal unconscious and insensible. In practice, especially with the current high slaughter speed, it can occur that the electrodes are not positioned correctly, leading to painful electric shocks and burns.^[19] In addition to serious welfare issues for the animals, electric stunning results in poorer meat quality, such as bleeding in the meat.^[20] ::external-video{url="https://vimeo.com/655684665"} :: Most large pig slaughterhouses utilize a gassing plant to stun pigs before slaughter. The pigs are placed in groups of about eight individuals in a gas lift. The gas lift then lowers the animals into a pit filled with a high concentration of CO2 gas. Regulations mandate a CO2 concentration of at least 80%, but in the Netherlands, slaughterhouses usually employ concentrations of 90%. Wageningen University & Research (WUR) conducted scientific studies to determine how long it takes for pigs to lose consciousness in a gassing plant. The animals' brain activity was measured using EEG research. At a gas concentration of 95%, it took 20 seconds for the pigs to become unconscious, while at a concentration of 85%, brain activity was observed for up to 32 seconds.^[21] The use of high CO2 concentrations is controversial. According to EFSA (European Food Safety Authority), CO2 concentrations above 30% are already aversive (a pig tries to avoid it), causing hyperventilation and painful irritation of the mucous membranes before unconsciousness occurs.^[22] Veterinarian Hans Nieuwendijk tested this by inhaling high concentrations of CO2 gas himself and described it as follows: "It gives a burning sensation, as if a liter of cola is being forced up your nose."^[23] Veterinarian and stunning expert Reinder Hoenderken studied CO2 stunning as early as 1979 by placing a pig into a transparent plexiglass cage filled with 80% CO2. Colleagues and administrators who observed were so shocked by what they witnessed that CO2 intoxication was banned in the Netherlands in 1981.^[24] However, with the implementation of EU regulations, it has been permitted again since 1993. When drafting the more recent European regulations (REGULATION (EC) No. 1099/2009), EFSA recommended that the European Union prohibit the use of CO2 gas due to its serious impact on animal welfare. However, this recommendation was not included in the regulation for economic reasons.^[25] The undercover investigation at Westfort demonstrates how gas stunning operates. The pigs are roughly herded from the holding pens to the gasification plant. Automatically shifting walls push the animals into a gas lift, which is accompanied by fear and stress. A camera installed in the gas lift captured footage of the gassing process. We observe how the animals exhibit signs of asphyxiation as they descend into the gas pit. It takes mere seconds for all the pigs to become motionless. The gas lift then brings the gassed animals back up, where they are placed on a conveyor belt that transports them to the slaughter line.

Electronarcosis forceps and captive bolt pistol

In addition to stunning in automated electrical systems and gasification plants, slaughterhouses also utilize electro-narcotic forceps and captive bolt pistols. These portable stunning devices are employed for pigs that require emergency slaughter upon arrival at the slaughterhouse. This situation applies to animals that are unable to walk independently and painlessly, such as those suffering from severe lameness. These animals are killed after unloading using electro-narcotic forceps. The forceps are first placed against the head to stun the animal, and then positioned against the heart to induce death. Another method of emergency slaughter is the captive bolt pistol. A captive bolt pistol fires a pin through the animal's skull and brain. After the shot, the pin retracts into the barrel of the pistol. The impact to the skull causes a concussion, which, if enough kinetic energy is transferred, results in immediate unconsciousness and insensibility. Additionally, the captive bolt inflicts brain damage that maintains unconsciousness, provided the damage is extensive enough. Compared to other animal species, stunning pigs with a captive bolt pistol is relatively challenging. The brain is situated quite deep within the head, and there are sinuses between the forehead and brain, complicating the stunning process. If a captive bolt shot proves ineffective, the animal must be shot again, which leads to additional suffering. After the shot, the animal's throat is slit open to bleed to death.^[26] Undercover footage from Westfort reveals pigs being killed with electrosedation forceps during unloading. Smoke is sometimes visible, indicating that the animal's skin is being burned. Electrocuting with the forceps is not always successful on the first attempt. Often, animals are electrocuted in plain sight of other pigs, or pigs are forced to step over electrocuted individuals. There is also footage of pigs being shot with a captive bolt pistol. One pig is shot and struggles for several minutes while bleeding to death. In another instance, the captive bolt remains lodged in the animal's skull. Removing the device involves pulling and kicking the animal's head.

(Un)drowsy bleeding to death

After stunning, the pigs are hoisted with a chain around their hind legs. A rail system transports the animals to the slaughterhouses where they are stabbed, severing their carotid arteries. The animal must then bleed out until death occurs. After bleeding out, the pigs are transported via the rail system to a hot water bath. The water bath, heated to 60 degrees Celsius, helps loosen the pigs' hairs, making them easier to remove. Conventional stunning methods in slaughterhouses cannot ensure that animals remain unconscious throughout the entire slaughter process. CO2 gasification is a reversible method. It does not directly cause death, meaning the animals can regain consciousness. The effectiveness of CO2 stunning is influenced by five crucial parameters: CO2 concentrations, gas quality, gas temperature, exposure duration, and the maximum time interval between stunning and stabbing.^[27] Unforeseen malfunctions on the slaughter line can extend the time interval between gassing and stabbing, causing the stunning to wear off before the animals have bled to death. Other factors that can lead to insufficient stunning include overcrowding in the gondola, which limits space for deep breathing, inadequate CO2 intake, and poor system maintenance, resulting in too low a CO2 concentration. The installation is often equipped with an alarm, but this is set to the legal minimum of 80%, which requires a longer retention time than the higher concentrations (90%) typically used in Dutch slaughterhouses.^[28] Electric stunning also carries risks for slaughter without stunning. Incorrect electrode placement can lead to ineffective stunning. When correctly positioned, heart fibrillation and cardiac arrest are induced, but during the hanging of the animals on the slaughter line, the heart may resuscitate itself, allowing the animal to regain consciousness.^[29] Due to these known risks, European regulations (REGULATION (EC) No 1099/2009) mandate checks to ensure effective stunning of animals. If inspections reveal that an animal shows signs of consciousness (such as rhythmic breathing, a corneal reflex, or an eyelid reflex), intervention is required by administering a backup stunning device (e.g., electro-anesthesia forceps). However, checks for effective stunning at the slaughter line are only mandatory for "a representative sample of the animals." Following undercover footage in Belgium (Exportslachthuis Tielt, 2017), RTL requested inspection reports from Dutch slaughterhouses (NVWA) in 2018. Inspectors found that the cutting of the carotid arteries had been performed poorly on up to sixteen occasions, preventing the animals from bleeding out. Several pigs ended up alive and conscious in the hot water bath, where they died a painful drowning death.^[30] The undercover investigation at Westfort reveals how restrained pigs are stabbed and left to bleed out. The footage shows pigs that are not effectively stunned during the bleeding process. We see a stabbed pig moving its mouth and then beginning to struggle violently. Another pig further down the slaughter line is electrocuted with electro-narcotic forceps because it was found conscious and bleeding out.

European regulations (REGULATION (EC) No 1/2005) prohibit the transport of 'animals that are unable to move painlessly on their own or walk without assistance, as well as animals exhibiting serious open wounds or prolapses.'^[31] For welfare reasons, severely lame, sick, or injured animals must be treated or euthanized on farms, as transporting them to a slaughterhouse would cause additional suffering. Lameness is a common issue in pig farming. Among all dead finishing pigs submitted for examination to the GD (Animal Health Service), about 10% exhibit movement problems. Common causes of lameness include joint inflammation and meningitis, often resulting from streptococcal infections. These pathogens can lead to joint inflammation, sometimes affecting multiple joints simultaneously. Osteochondrosis, a joint disease that occurs when bone formation from cartilage is disrupted during growth, is also increasingly diagnosed in pigs raised for meat.^[32] Osteochondrosis primarily affects fast-growing meat-rich breeds: the cartilage literally cannot keep pace with the pig's growth, leading to defects in the joints.^[33] Movement disorders can be painful, causing the animal to walk abnormally or even become unable to stand.^[34] Tail-biting wounds are a frequent behavioral issue in finishing pigs due to stress on pig farms. These wounds can become severely infected, resulting in necrosis (tissue death). Tail-bite wounds may be accompanied by abscesses that spread along the spine and into the spinal column, which only become visible after slaughter.^[35] WUR estimates that tail-biting wounds occur in an average of 2.12% of weaned piglets and finishing pigs. However, there is significant variation between farms regarding the percentage of tail wounds. Research indicates that about half of pig farmers report having no pigs with tail-biting wounds on their farm. This suggests that on farms experiencing tail-biting issues, the average percentage is around 4.25%, with some farms reporting that over 20% of their animals have tail-biting wounds.^[36] Prolapses are organs that protrude from the body, including the intestines, bladder, vagina, and uterus. These protruding organs can easily sustain damage, causing pain and heavy bleeding.^[37] Rectal prolapse is most common in growing piglets and finishing pigs. The literature notes variations in occurrence ranging from 0.7% to 15% per herd. It involves intestinal prolapse, which can be caused by inadequate feed and drinking water, poor housing and barn climate, or pathological factors such as coughing, intestinal infections from bacteria, viruses, and worms, or inflammation of the bladder, ureters, and vagina. Rectal prolapse can also be linked to hereditary susceptibility, low birth weight, and tail docking. Vaginal, bladder, and uterine prolapses are more common in sows (0.5 to 1%) and are often related to reproductive factors such as extra abdominal contents in pregnant sows, excessive straining due to overweight piglets or incorrect positioning of piglets, or irritation and inflammation of the vagina following unskilled birthing assistance or as a result of insemination.^[38] Umbilical hernias are protrusions of the intestine or peritoneal fold at the navel. They can be so large that they drag along the ground, leading to inflammation of the skin tissue and making it difficult for the animal to move painlessly. The contents of an umbilical hernia may include intestines and abdominal contents, or it can also be an abscess filled with pus.^[39] Inguinal and umbilical hernias occur at an average rate of 1.7% to 6.7% in pigs. Due to the genetic component of this condition, the rate can exceed 10% in the offspring of certain boars and sows.^[40] According to the most recent quarterly report (first quarter 2019) from Vion (the largest pig slaughterhouse in the Netherlands), 0.72% of the animals delivered received a comment during inspection upon arrival at the slaughterhouse, which amounts to 13,335 animals out of a total of 1,852,078 pigs per quarter. 20% of the comments concerned pigs with leg problems (2,667 animals).^[41] Other slaughterhouses do not publicly share inspection results. Recent data from Belgian and German authorities revealed that seriously ill animals are exported to slaughterhouses in Belgium and Germany dozens of times a year. NVWA employees responsible for supervision admit that the checks are minimal in terms of export interests.^[42] The undercover investigation reveals that sick pigs are also delivered to Westfort. The footage shows pigs with infected tail bite wounds, severely lame animals, large abscesses, infected vaccination bumps, and open skin wounds. Large umbilical hernias and ruptured umbilical hernias, with protruding intestines, were also captured on film. These conditions could not have developed during transport, indicating they have been present on the farm for some time (given the advanced stage of the conditions). Upon arrival, pigs with health issues are separated from the others and placed in a "risk pen." This pen is located next to the unloading docks, where there is considerable noise and movement. The high-risk pen houses animals from different transports. New animals are repeatedly introduced throughout the day, causing unrest. We observe pigs fighting for extended periods and a sow becoming stressed when harassed by a boar. The animals are forced to remain in the high-risk pen for hours. They are slaughtered at the end of the workday (after the healthy pigs) to prevent pus or intestinal contents from umbilical hernias from contaminating the slaughter line. When it is time to slaughter, the group is separated: pigs with abscesses and umbilical hernias are processed first, while animals with tail bite wounds are processed last (due to the highest risk of contaminating the slaughter line). Separating the animals involves a significant amount of beating.

In addition to conventional IKB pigs (pigs bred and slaughtered according to the minimum legal standards), Westfort also slaughters pigs for the KDV (Sustainable Pork Chain), KDV+ (Antibiotic-Free Life Guarantee), EKO (organic pork), and Beter Leven (the quality mark of the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming)) concepts.^[43] Regarding animal welfare during the slaughter process, the criteria for these various concepts differ little, if at all, from standard legislation. KDV, a collaboration between Westfort slaughterhouses, pig farmers, and retailers, stands out by providing additional comforts in the slaughterhouse's waiting pens, such as underfloor heating. Compliance with KDV criteria at the slaughterhouse is monitored by Westfort's own QUESH (Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment) department.^[44] Antibiotic-free Life Guarantee or KDV+ is a premium quality mark of KDV^[45] and adheres to the same slaughterhouse standards as KDV. KDV pork is available at supermarket chains such as COOP, MCD, and POIESZ.^[46] Pigs for KDV pork are exclusively slaughtered at Westfort.

For "Beter Leven" pork, the Dutch Society for the Protection of Animals (Dierenbescherming) works with several slaughterhouses, including Westfort. Beter Leven pork is sold in various Dutch supermarkets such as Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Lidl, and Aldi. The Beter Leven criteria for slaughter primarily adhere to legal standards, with additional measures including a ban on the use of electric devices and a prohibition on housing animals from different transports together in a holding pen. Beter Leven certificates are not granted to slaughterhouses where, in addition to regular slaughter, unstunned (ritual) slaughter occurs (which does not apply to pig slaughterhouses).^[47] Inspections for the Beter Leven quality mark are conducted by Certification Bodies accredited by the Dutch Accreditation Council. If no deviations are identified during the inspection, the Beter Leven certificate is issued for a duration of one year.^[48]

The EKO quality mark signifies organic production, which is overseen by Skal Biocontrol. The regulations governing organic production do not specify criteria for the slaughter process of animals.^[49] Meat from organic pigs slaughtered at Westfort in Ijsselstein is processed at Westfort's organic meat processing facility in Hedel (Deli Harmony). Deli Harmony sells the organic pork under the consumer brand "St. Hendrick."^[50] which is available at supermarket chain Ekoplaza, among others.^[51]

The undercover footage from Westfort slaughterhouse reveals a stark contrast to the animal-friendly image that quality marks aim to present. Pigs are beaten with electric prods or grabbed by sensitive areas like their ears. Being chased and faced with the unfamiliar environment of the slaughterhouse, which is far from the natural settings where pigs feel at ease, leads to significant stress and anxiety. All pigs at Westfort, as well as at other slaughterhouses, are stunned and slaughtered in the same manner, following the guidelines set out in REGULATION (EC) No. 1099/2009 on the protection of animals at the time of killing. The process of slaughtering animals for meat consumption inevitably involves animal suffering, no matter the quality mark.