Eyes on Animals observed the handling and slaughtering of pigs at Slachterij Boom in Erp, a medium-sized pig slaughterhouse in southern Holland. This is the first slaughterhouse where, during our unannounced visit, we did not observe any sick or injured pigs, or rough handling. However, the kill floor was full of blood as they hang and cut the stunned pigs directly above, thus for those in line to be stunned they have their faces and noses right in the blood of the others.
Surprisingly though, from simply observing their behaviour, the group of pigs in the blood-covered kill pen appeared much calmer than in those plants where the floor is barren, as the blood kept the pig occupied/distracted (they were sniffing it) and thus they were paying less attention to the fact that there was a man in the pen trying to stun them one at a time. We only observed the stunning and shackling of approximately 10 pigs but fortunately all 10 were correctly stunned and did not regain consciousness.
