Australian Ag Podcast: Georgie Purcell, David Wright speak on animal activist invasions

As the Victorian Parliamentary Committee’s inquiry into pig welfare continues, a piggery manager has shed light on his experience with animal activists.

A Victorian piggery manager with more than 35 years of experience says animal activists entering farms was akin to a “home invasion”, leaving farmers feeling threatened in their own environment.

The manager, who did not want to identify himself, detailed the impact such activist behaviour has on farmers on The Australian Ag Podcast this week.

“There are people living on or in close proximity to their farms, so (activists) aren’t invading a third party property – they’re actually invading their home area,” he said.

“They can walk past their houses, drive by nearby roads … it’s no different to a home invasion”.

The manager said he had his first experience with activists 30 years ago, but that the age of social media had borne new strategies and methods that were focused on broadcasting to the world.

“Initially they would use tactics of locking themselves inside farms, raiding them, trying to release pigs, threaten staff, and even verbally and physically threaten employees,” he said.

“(Now) they aim to leave cameras in situ on batteries, and record what goes on 24/7 inside the farm without anyone knowing.

“They will record normal husbandry practices, then they will modify the footage, doctor the films, and alter the rhetoric to emphasise anything negative they assume is happening on the farm. Then they can put up a collage of the so-called ‘atrocities’, even though they’ve actually got a small amount of anything that is an issue.”

The special episode of The Australian Ag Podcast comes as the Victorian Parliamentary Committee continues its inquiry into pig welfare, triggered by secret footage filmed by animal activists last year inside three Victorian abattoirs, of pigs being stunned with carbon dioxide gas before slaughter.

Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell. Picture: David Crosling

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell, who is chairing the inquiry, said the footage was “confronting”.

“So often we’re kept in the dark about what happens in farming systems and abattoirs, and even for those who consume animals, they likely want a more humane end for them,” she said.

Ms Purcell said more transparency in the pork production process was needed, and that the government should accept a 2019 parliamentary inquiry recommendation to implement CCTV in slaughterhouses.

“I think if there was a way for consumers to see exactly where their food was coming from, activists wouldn’t feel compelled to do the work that they are.”

Victorian Farmers Federation pig group president David Wright said the pig industry used methods recommended throughout the world, and that farmers were feeling “huge” pressures from activists and their methods.

“If you’re working on a farm you expect to be left alone to do your job and do your job properly and care for animals,” he said.

The Australian Ag Podcast is available on Spotify or here.