Help end the cage age.

Whether in Australia or in Europe, where these new investigations took place, the experience of the animals – confined day in, day out in factory farms – is the same: lives of utter deprivation.

Compassion in World Farming investigators went undercover on 16 farms across four countries in Europe – Poland, Italy, Spain and France – to document standard farming conditions for pigs. Some of the farms supply premium global brands Bayonne and Parma Hams (which exported nearly 100,000 hams to Australia in 2021).

The conditions pigs are living in – that cause so much suffering – are not only normal for the industry but in most cases, entirely legal. The evidence revealed:

• Sows confined in cages barely bigger than their own body
• Sows forced to lie in their own urine and faeces
• Sows performing abnormal behaviours of repetitively biting the bars and sham chewing
• Painful and preventable injuries
• Sows unable to interact normally with their piglets

See the evidence for yourself then take action to call on European leaders to end the cage age.

The European Union is closer than ever to becoming the first cage-free region in the world. In 2021, the EU Commission committed to introduce legislation by 2023 to begin a phase out of cages for all farmed animals. This would profoundly change the lives of millions of animals including hens, rabbits, pigs, calves, quail, ducks and geese.

If the EU banned cages it would also set a significant global precedent that could finally bring to an end one of the worst cruelties perpetuated by factory farming industries. But international pressure is needed to keep this important law on the political agenda.

With so much love for pigs in the world – for who they are, not what they can produce –  it may surprise many people to know that pork is the second most consumed meat in Australia. And nearly half of the pork products consumed (‘smallgoods’ like bacon, ham and salami) are imported – mostly from Europe and the United States.

The vast majority of these pigs – including in Australia – are factory farmed. And in conditions very similar to those exposed in Compassion in World Farming’s recent investigations.

These animals are victims of an old way of thinking that deemed animals born into the category of ‘food’  less deserving of kindness and compassion than those born into the category of ‘friend’. As demand for animal products grew, farms turned into factories, and laws overlooked that those within these systems were living, feeling beings.

Factory farming only exists because so many animals are being eaten. And that puts each and every one of us in a unique and powerful position to create change. Every plant-based meal reduces the demand for animal products that has underpinned these systems of suffering.

We live at a time in which there is an abundance of plant-based food alternatives on offer. Choosing them is the ultimate act of kindness to animals. Choosing them will inspire a new way of thinking, and heart-based living.

Explore a kinder way of eating today by ordering a FREE veg starter kit.