Where's the common sense in that?

I love pigs.

I love looking at them. I love eating them. I love squealing like one. I love talking about them. I love calling people one. And above all I love saying the word.

Pig.

PIG.

I’m obsessed. In fact, all of my regular readers (hi Mum!) may remember a blog I wrote about pigs last year describing how they’ve taken over my life by constantly appearing on TV, films, menus, websites, posters, shops, billboards, cards, dreams, t-shirts, mugs, and just about anything you can think of.

Well, another pig appearance occurred in the news last week. But I’m afraid it wasn’t met with the usual joy a pig appearance brings.

I am talking about the hideous news story about the workers at the Essex slaughterhouse, Elmkirk (Cheale Meats) Ltd, who were caught on secret camera footage abusing pigs.

The men, and I use the term lightly, can be seen in the video burning the pigs with cigarettes, hitting them with bats, dragging them by the ears and punching them in the face. There is one particularly harrowing scene where a stun gun is used incorrectly and the pig is left shaking and flopping around on the grubby floor until being put out of its misery. There may be worse bits but me and my housemates were to sickened to continue watching and had to turn it off.

However I didn’t feel as sick as I did after reading a quote on the Sky News website saying: “the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced it will not prosecute Cheale Meats, in Brentwood, because campaigners trespassed to obtain the footage.”

Umm… what?

I consider myself to be a well balanced guy. If someone does something wrong I like to think I can think of a reason why they did it. I don’t mean defend it, I just mean I can put myself in their shoes and understand why they did it. When it comes to left-hooking a defenceless animal in the face however, I most certainly cannot understand it.

But I can most certainly understand the crime the pesky, interfering, camera-placing “trespassers” committed. It’s not as if the went in there to take the pigs away and skin the workers alive (both of which would be better crimes by the sounds of it). They went in to uncover despicable acts which Cheale Meats deserve to pay for.

Yes they trespassed and didn’t quite go all Panorama on them by hiring a secret agent to gain employment within the abattoir and catch them in the act. But are you telling me that if Panorama trespassed in a retirement home, planted cameras and caught nurses burning old ladies with cigarettes, hitting them with bats, dragging them by the ears and punching them in the face we’d turn round and: “Ah well, these videos weren’t filmed in the correct manner. ”

Disgusting. We call ourselves a civilised race? If a pet dog was caught mauling an innocent child for no reason it would be put down and its owner fined heavily.

I just wish, for once, someone in power gets some common sense and punishes the dogs and their owners at Cheale Meats.

Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here