Crate Britain: does Mummy pig deserve a prison break?

Credit: Marcus Emmerson/Humane World for Animals UK

5 min read02 September Partner content

In August Humane World for Animals UK took Penny, our life-size animatronic pig, to towns and cities in pig farming hotspots across the UK and found overwhelming support for banning cruel mother pig cages.

Tightly incarcerated in a metal cage only a little bigger than her body, Penny, a life-size oinking, blinking replica pig, prompted heads to turn on the streets of Thetford, Norwich, Lincoln, York, Edinburgh, Perth and Glasgow in August. Her sad plight inspired hundreds of compassionate citizens to express sadness and outrage that 200,000 real mother pigs are locked up exactly like this for five weeks every time they give birth, and so spend almost a quarter of their lives behind bars.

Penny in the stall — Credit: Humane World for Animals UK

Penny was the star attraction of Humane World for Animals’ ‘Crate Britain Tour’ to raise awareness about farrowing crates, cruel cages used to confine the 60 per cent of UK sows who farrow indoors (the remaining 40 per cent farrow outdoors and are not confined.)¹

People were horrified to learn that these intelligent animals are being confined in cages so small they cannot turn around 24 hours a day for five long weeks. The vast majority were previously unaware of farrowing crates, mirroring opinion polling we commissioned in June finding that 73 per cent of people in the UK had either never heard of farrowing crates or did not know very much about them. Once aware, our poll found that 87 per cent of people were against their use, and Penny moved hundreds of people to make their feelings known by sending postcards calling for farrowing crates to be banned to their parliamentarians.²

Yorkshire has the largest number of farmed pigs in the UK including over 83,000 sows and almost 370,000 pigs indoors.³ One person we spoke to in York said: “This is inhumane, cruel and totally unnecessary. Animals are sentient, gentle creatures and pigs are incredibly special.”

Norfolk is the UK’s second most prominent pig farming region with over 71,000 sows and over 150,000 pigs kept indoors.⁴ Another person we spoke to in Norwich said: “This method of confinement is entirely unacceptable, robbing pigs of their right to natural behaviour.”

Community leaders including MPs, MSPs and local councillors echoed the concerns of local people. Those who engaged with us reported receiving many emails about the cruelty of farrowing crates and remain acutely aware of how important this issue is to their constituents. Their support reinforces the growing list of 80 politicians who publicly back the move away from farrowing crates.

“Why is that pig in a cage, Mummy?”

When the public asked why farmers use farrowing crates we explained that these cages were initially introduced to reduce piglet deaths caused by sows accidentally sitting or lying on them. Following progress in farming practices, it has been shown that the same level of protection can be provided by well-designed free farrowing systems. In Switzerland and Norway, where farrowing crates were banned decades ago, piglet mortality rates are 11.8 per cent and 10.5 per cent, lower than the UK indoor herd average of 13.2 per cent. This also compares favourably to the UK outdoor herd average piglet mortality rate of 11.9 per cent.⁵

On top of these cages being unnecessary to protect piglets, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) concluded in April this year that sows cannot meet four out of five of their basic welfare needs in farrowing crates. It was on this basis that the BVA concluded that conventional farrowing crates should be banned.⁶

Some indoor pig farming industry bodies are proposing a shift to temporary crating (or ‘flexible farrowing’), which they propose should allow for sows to be as strictly confined as they are in farrowing crates for up to 10 days.⁷ Just as in farrowing crates, sows’ welfare needs cannot be met in these systems, and studies suggest that temporary crating worsens piglet mortality compared to conventional crating and free farrowing alternatives.⁸ A law change permitting temporary crating also poses a serious enforcement challenge, with significant likelihood that some farmers would be inclined to stick with the status quo of keeping sows confined for several weeks. Additionally, there is no social license to keep sows locked up behind bars for such long periods. In a Survation poll we commissioned in May, 69 per cent of people felt that pigs should only be confined for a few hours (for example during veterinary procedures) not for days, let alone weeks.⁹

“There is no need for this – there is a clear alternative”

While there is currently no support or incentives from industry or the Government to adopt free farrowing systems, when surveyed 28 per cent of indoor pig farmers indicated that they were planning to change their farrowing system and would consider installing free farrowing units.¹⁰ That over a quarter of farmers are already open to adopting free farrowing is hugely encouraging, and we expect this number to grow exponentially with proper Government support.

Farmers need clarity and certainty from Governments in the UK, on both the policy and the financial support that will be made available. Transitioning needs careful planning so we are urging Governments to develop a 5 year pathway to crate-free farrowing. This year, the UK Government should start by launching a long-promised public consultation on the transition to free farrowing.

To join our call for Government action and register your support for a Crate Free Britain, please contact Sam Magor, Public Affairs coordinator: smagor@humaneworld.org.