A farmer from Innherred in Trøndelag has been sentenced to prison for two years and four months after 1,500 pigs died on the farm. The man has been convicted of breaking several points in the Animal Welfare Act. Brota debt failure in care, supervision and care. In addition, the man receives an activity ban. This means that he cannot start keeping animals again, until further notice. The farmer’s defender, Tanja B. Henderson, says the sentence was as expected. – He is fine. The biggest burden has been waiting for the case to come up, and the case itself. It will be good to get an end to this, she says. The prosecution requested that the man be imprisoned for two years and ten months. – It is clear that violations of animal welfare laws on such a scale will be dealt with quite strictly. This is what the prosecutor in the case, police attorney Amund Sand, told news during the trial. Dead pigs in various stages of decomposition were found throughout the defendant farmer’s barn. Between 15 and 50 pigs fell into a manure cellar and drowned. Photo: The police 1,500 dead pigs On 9 January 2023, the police and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority went to a farm at Innherred in Trøndelag. There they were met by what they thought were 200 dead pigs. After further investigation, it turned out to be the remains of what they estimate to be 1,500 pigs. – One has clearly failed in such a situation, said the farmer in court. In the last months before it was discovered, the pigs did not get food and the farmer was, so to speak, not in the barn. The police believe that the violation of the Animal Welfare Act has led to the death of 1,500 pigs at the farm. On each side, people from the slaughterhouse, the food inspectorate, the joint purchase and a neighbor were concerned about how things were actually going with the farmer and the pigs. But each saw only a small part of the big picture. Therefore, it took over a year from the first report of concern until the whole thing was discovered. – It is always a theme in such cases that in retrospect you see that many people had bits of information, but perhaps no one had the whole picture, says Sand. Photo: Norwegian Food Authority It started with the pigs getting scarlet fever and it was difficult to get rid of the disease. At the same time, some of the furnishings in the barn began to be destroyed. All this affected the pigs, the operation and the economy. – It will be too late, and then you don’t ask for help anyway, said the farmer in court. But even if several people on the outside had their concerns, the prosecutor in the case makes it clear that it is the farmer’s responsibility to take care of the pigs. – Everything that happens in the production of animal husbandry is the responsibility of the animal husbandry.
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1,500 pigs died – the farmer sentenced to over two years in prison
