A Criminological Exploration of the Industrialisation of Pig Farming

Wyatt, Tanya (2014) A Criminological Exploration of the Industrialisation of Pig Farming. Internet Journal of Criminology, 1. pp. 12-28. ISSN 2045-6743

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Abstract

The UK has had factory farming of pigs and other animals for many years. Recently though, there has been movement to increase the scale on which this occurs. The change would see several thousand pigs on one farm turn into tens of thousands of pigs. Whilst, bioethicists and other animal rights advocates have addressed non-human animal welfare in agriculture, criminology, which plays an important role in negotiating and defining criminal behaviour, has added very little to this debate. In order to address this oversight and contribute to the non-human animal welfare discourse, this paper details the non-human animal abuse that has been uncovered on English and Welsh pig farms as well as the abuse that takes place in abattoirs from a green criminological and ethical perspective. It goes on to discuss the legislation that regulates animal welfare and if this legislation can tackle abuse in even more industrialised farms. There is also criminological exploration of the environmental degradation and human health concerns that are associated with large-scale facilities. Finally, the conclusion makes recommendations on how the UK Government should proceed in regards to increased industrialisation of pig and other non-human animal farming in light of the evidence presented.

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