Chester: Animal rights group slams conditions at Ince pig farm

Around 150 members of Meat the Victims attended Holme Farm, Ince, at around 4am on October 26 to raise awareness of what they believe is animal cruelty.

In a YouTube video posted the same day by collaborators Virtue for Animals, the campaigners urge people to ditch animal products and adopt a vegan lifestyle.

As the camera pans around the pig shed, the video’s narrator says: “Behind closed doors we are once again reminded of the sad reality of animal farming.

A still from footage allegedly taken inside Holme Farm in Ince.

“The pigs will spend the majority of their lives indoors, inside dirty, barren sheds where they will be fattened up for slaughter.”

The footage – said to be from inside Holmes Farm - shows pigs fighting with some having sustained bloody injuries to their ears.

It also reveals sows in ‘farrowing crates’ which are restrictive cages supposedly designed to allow piglets to suckle without the risk of being squashed.

The narrator states: “They will be inside these cages for around a month at a time. With their movement so severely restricted, these mothers are also unable to tend to their young if there are problems and often have to helplessly watch them suffer and die around her.”

Holme Farm in Ince, near Chester.

The Standard contacted the farm’s owners, J H Willis & Son, this morning (Monday, October 28) when a spokesman said they had chosen not to comment on the content of the video.

However, he took issue with a report on one national newspaper website that said the protesters had been “sprayed by a strong jet of water”.

Staff had been washing the floors down but did not turn hosepipes on the protesters, he said.

He also accepted the group’s right to protest, saying they had turned up using public footpaths through the site and had not caused any damage.

“They were putting their feelings across,” he said. “Everyone is entitled to their beliefs.”

The activists are urging people to ditch animal products.

The protest group told this newspaper that later on Saturday morning another 100-strong group had shown footage from the protest to members of the public in Liverpool city centre.

"People were genuinely shocked," he said. "It was quite impactful for them to see this was happening just 10 minutes down the road."

A police spokesman said: “Cheshire police are aware of a protest that took place in Ince.

“Officers attended to the protest as a precaution and there were no reported incidents of disorder.

“People have a right in law to protest and the role of the police is to impartially balance this right with the rights of those impacted by the protest such as continuing in their legitimate business activities, or commuting.”

Holme Farm, Ince.