Today the team from WACPAW and Eyes on Animals, along with our trainees from The Vegan Village in Uganda, visited Ampoma farm and slaughter slab in the Eastern Region of Accra. The pigs at this farm looked quite healthy and well fed. The farm pens were clean, had adequate water drinkers and the pigs had plenty of space. Sadly they did not have any foraging material though, which is one of the most important behaviours for pigs to be able to express. They did have their tails though, no -tail-docking here ! Another positive point about this farm is that they slaughter their animals on site, instead of transporting them for hours on poor trucks to slaughterhouses far away. Their slaughter slab however is out in the open premise with no raceway to guide pigs towards it. They were thus bringing pigs to the slaughter slab by dragging or carrying them by their tails and ears.
WACPAW made a brilliant portable black raceway out of thick material and poles which we used to guide the pigs safely and calmly to the slaughter area. With this portable raceway, the pigs could remain on all 4 legs and walk themselves. This drastically reduced their fear and pain. Pigs were also previously being horrendously and repeatedly clubbed on their heads on the slaughter slab via a heavy wooden club. For the larger sows and boars this was torture, as it took the animals a long time before they were beaten to unconsciousness and they kept trying to stand back up and run away after each blow to the head. It is horrible to watch and to read, but as long as they are no alternatives, the club is what is often used in many parts of the world.
We had imported proper captive bolt pistols from France and together with WACPAW we taught them how to stun the pigs correctly and immediately. We also gave them sharper knives and a knife sharpener, as using blunt knives can also cause serious suffering during bleed out. We will stay in touch with the manager and workers, and WACPAW will regularly return to check that standards are maintained.
