Penny, a full-size animatronic pig came to Norfolk this week as part of the Humane World for Animals UK tour. They were in Thetford on Monday and greeted by South West Norfolk Labour MP Terry Jermy.
The tour is part of a wider campaign highlighting the continued use of farrowing crates that allow little room for mother pigs to move and enjoy basic animal behaviours.
In farrowing crates and temporary crates, sows are unable to turn around, nestle their piglets or express natural rooting or nest-building behaviours. These restrictions lead to severe welfare problems for both sows and piglets.
Every year in the UK, over 7 million farmed animals are confined to cages for all or part of their lives. The campaign also highlights the plight of battery cages for chickens with 20% of the UK’s eggs still produced in these cages. Barren battery cages and ‘enriched’ battery cages – in which hens have around the space of an A4 sheet of paper each – remain legal.
Terry Jermy MP said, “Ending farrowing crate use is an issue I care passionately about. Roughly 200,000 mother pigs spend up to five weeks in cages so small they cannot turn around each time they give birth. Using Penny to demonstrate what it is like for a full-sized pig to be in one of these crates was a good opportunity to highlight these harsh realities with many people shocked at the cramped conditions.”
Jermy, who recently spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on the issue, added that farmers needed support to phase out the current usage. “Most farmers I know in my South West Norfolk constituency care passionately about their animals and they want to do all they can to improve welfare conditions, but they need support with the transition. This fundamentally comes down to fairness about finances when it comes out phasing this practice for farmers.”
All of the major UK supermarkets have either already stopped selling eggs from caged hens or have committed to do so by the end of 2025. However, once these commitments are realised, it is estimated there will still be around 10% of the UK’s hens remaining in cages.
