Madrid Protesters Set Up Powerful Display of Tools Used for Pig Mutilation

In a powerful display of advocacy, more than 150 animal defenders joined Animal Equality in the heart of Madrid on Saturday, September 23, for a protest against Spain’s pig farming industry. 

Together, they carried posters bearing images from Animal Equality’s recent investigation into pig farms, shedding light on mutilation, neglect, and animal abuse in Spain’s meat industry. During the protest, instruments commonly used to mutilate piglets were on display, including electric prods, tail cutting instruments, castration forceps, and tooth cutting pliers. 

Tail-Cutting Instruments: Pigs’ tails are often cut without anesthesia when they are just a few days old. Investigation footage has shown these young animals screaming from the pain. Since these mutilations are often performed by inexperienced workers, piglets often suffer from infections, inflammation, and painful neuromas on the tips of their tails. 

Castration Clamps: These metal clamps are used to open or dilate rubber rings, which are placed around pigs’ scrotums. The rubber rings cut off blood flow to their scrotums, causing tissue death and eventual detachment. This practice is commonly inflicted on piglets between birth and three months old. 

It is urgent that the protection of farm animals is on the political agenda. We cannot allow the economic interest of the factory farming industry to cause suffering for animals while silently destroying the planet.

Javier Moreno, Co-founder and Director of Communication at Animal Equality

Hundreds of passersby paused to view the instruments and speak with the protesters, all of whom resolutely demanded an end to factory farm cruelty across the country.

A Silent Epidemic of Suffering

Animal Equality has conducted worldwide investigations into the pig farming industry for more than a decade, illustrating once and for all animal abuse is deeply ingrained in the industry. Due to disease, injury, and mutilations, countless pigs die on factory farms before ever reaching the slaughterhouse. 

Last week, Animal Equality in Spain released an investigation inside five pig farms across the nation. Inside, they found pigs with injured limbs and eyes, wounds oozing with pus, and prolapsed rectums and uteruses. Dead pigs lay scattered across the farm, their distressed companions nibbling at the bodies as rats scurried by. 

While there are laws to protect pigs in Spain, oversight and accountability before the law is severely lacking. Due to a critical shortage of inspectors, farms can operate for approximately 60 years at a time without government scrutiny. When they are finally inspected, farm workers are given advance notice of 48 to 72 hours. 

But Spain is not alone in this crisis. Oversight of American farms by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been deemed grossly inadequate by multiple animal protection groups, including Animal Equality. 

That’s why Animal Equality joined a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 201, shortly after it announced its plans to further reduce government oversight in pig slaughterhouses. Since that time, Animal Equality has continued to fight against deregulation in an industry that stands to profit from animal abuse. 

The Tide is Changing for Animals

Despite these alarming trends, there is still hope for animals trapped in the animal agriculture industry. 

In a world increasingly aware of factory farming corruption, a growing number of people are replacing pig meat products with plant-based proteins. Embracing plant-based eating not only saves lives, but it prevents animals from suffering before death. 

As consumer choices evolve, what we put on our plates sends a clear message to the animal agriculture industry: the world is watching, and the status quo is no longer acceptable.