A 27-year-old man now living in Tavistock faces eight
animal cruelty charges after more than 1,200 pigs were found dead on his farm
at Langton.
The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Crueltry to Animals
laid the charges after receiving a complaint from a member of the public
about conditions on the farm located 80 kilometres southeast of London.
Investigators found 1,265 dead pigs when they
went to the farm Feb. 17.
The barn was dark and flooded in manure, the pigs had
no food and The Ontario Pork marketing board was called in to help the
surviving pigs in the barn, according to board chairman Eric
Schwindt.
He told the CBC he's shocked by what happened.
"It's something I've never come across in my
20 years in the pork industry," he told CBC London.
"This isn't the way farmers treat their
livestock."
The pork board and Farm & Food Care Ontario have
kept the scandalous situation secret.
