The Marne prefecture has issued notice to the Corbeil pig farm to “sustainably remedy” the live castration of piglets, after an inspection following a complaint from the animal rights association L214 to the Châlons public prosecutor’s office. -en-Champagne, the prefecture announced on Wednesday October 18 to Agence France-Presse (AFP). This complaint, filed at the beginning of October, highlighted practices prohibited or contravening regulations according to L214.
“The farm having admitted to having carried out the live castration of piglets during 2022 and until August 2023, the prefect has given the farm formal notice to remedy this in the long term,” declared the prefecture to AFP, confirming information from The Union. “A new check will be carried out soon,” she said, adding that the check, “carried out by the state veterinary services”, had concluded “that there were no deviations”.
A video published by the association shows routine tail docking and live castrations. According to these images, filmed according to the association between May and September 2023, piglets would be killed there by being “slammed” against a concrete floor. The video also shows the remains of piglets crushed by their mother, corpses intended for rendering colonized by maggots.
“Non-compliance with regulations”
The prefecture specifies that it “transmitted the conclusions of the inspection report to the public prosecutor’s office”, on which this breeding depends, and welcomed in a press release that “this report concludes that the breeding is in good condition and the overall conformity of the practices “. However, she adds that she does not condone “non-compliance with the regulations” concerning “the castration procedure during the filming period” of the images.
This breeding is also not one of those “supplying animals intended” for the Herta brand, she specifies, contrary to what the association asserts. According to the Marne prefecture, “nearly 13,000 animal welfare checks were carried out in 2022” by the State, “resulting in 230 reports and 1,440 formal notices”.
