NEWS RELEASE Friday 5th December - For immediate use EXPOSED AGAIN - SCOTLAND'S SQUALID PIG FARMS Advocates for Animals, Scotland's leading animal protection organisation, has once again exposed the appalling state of Scottish pig farms and the squalid conditions in which the animals are incarcerated. Over the last few days, undercover investigators from Advocates for Animals secretly filmed inside four Scottish pig farms - Mains of Bogfechel and Woodlands, both Aberdeenshire; Muir of Pert, Tayside; and Ormiston Farm, West Lothian. Scotpigs Ltd, one of Scotland's major pig-meat suppliers, owns all four farms. Scotpigs' Director, Arthur Simmers, known as 'The Pig King' is a former chairman of the Scottish Pig Association and has previously faced charges of animal cruelty, although he was subsequently cleared. The video, released today, excerpts of which have already appeared this morning on BBC Scotland television reveals: · Pigs biting at the flesh of dead companions · The decomposing body of a piglet, left to rot amongst its other pen mates · Sick pigs with open weeping sores · Dying pigs · Bins overflowing with dead pigs · Rat infestation · Fly infestation During investigations last year, Advocates for Animals had exposed similar conditions on two of the same Scotpigs' farms - Ormiston Farm and Muir of Pert. As a result at least one of them, Ormiston Farm, lost its Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) assurance scheme accreditation. The assurance scheme claims to guarantee "good welfare practices" and is endorsed by the Scottish SPCA. Both the State Veterinary Service and Scottish SPCA had assured Advocates that the farms would now be closely monitored and conditions improved. This latest investigation shows that little or nothing has improved since then. The State Veterinary Officers at the relevant Animal Health Offices and the Scottish SPCA were informed yesterday about the investigators' findings. Since then, whether by coincidence or not, information has come out from QMS that all Scotpigs farms have now had their QMS accreditations removed. One of the investigators said: "I've been on many pig farms in the UK but these were the worst I've seen. The stench on the farms was overpowering and we saw a seething mass of rats running in and out of the sheds. Some of the buildings were dilapidated, falling apart and on the point of collapse. If a pig can be allowed to lie there rotting, one has to wonder what else can go unnoticed?" Advocates' Campaigns Director, Ross Minett, said: "We have investigated Scotland's pig industry again and yet again we have found a disgusting situation. We found sick pigs with open weeping sores, dying pigs, piglets pulling at the flesh of dead pigs, a rotting piglet, bins overflowing with dead pigs, fly infestations, dead rats and rats running all over the place. These intelligent and sentient animals are being kept in terrible conditions. Crammed into barren pens with little or no bedding and forced to live in their own excrement. I am sure that people will be disgusted to see how pigs are treated behind the closed doors of Scotland's factory farms. Sadly these kinds of conditions appear to be the norm - this is the shameful reality of modern intensive pig farming in Scotland. And we call ourselves a nation of animal lovers. This was our third visit to one of these farms. Yet nothing has changed. We have been assured time and again by the State Veterinary Service and the Scottish SPCA that these farms were being monitored. What on earth do we have to do to get action taken to protect pigs in this country? This situation must not be allowed to continue any longer. How many more farms do we need to expose before action will be taken? The Scottish Executive must start taking the welfare of farmed animals seriously and stop turning a deaf ear to our pleas for action." - ENDS - Notes to Editors For further information, photographs or video footage please contact Ross Minett on 0131 225 6039 (out of hours 07946 517585).