– As long as there are many people who have a small piece and do not see the whole picture, then maybe it will be like that. This, he says, clearly influenced the farmer’s veterinarian, who has been charged after the remains of up to 1,500 dead pigs were found on his farm. – We have been affected a lot. I’ve thought about it a lot, adds the vet. Several have had a small piece of information, but no one could see how it all connected. – It was difficult to overcome the disease in the pig. Terribly difficult to ask for help. One becomes an expert and very good at assigning things. That’s what the defendant farmer says, who kept the situation in the barn hidden from everyone. Until a concerned neighbor entered the barn on 9 January 2023, the situation was completely unknown to the outside world. In the trial, which lasts three days, the accused and several people involved testify. A concerned neighbor He noticed that something was different with the pig farmer in autumn 2022. – He changed his behaviour. A little worse at answering the phone and a little more shy, says the neighbor of the accused man. He began to check whether there was light in the barn, whether the farmer was there working with the animals. And there was light. But still he got a bad feeling. A careful and proper farmer The neighbor who worked as a substitute at the pig farmer describes the defendant as a proper and careful farmer. This impression was also shared by the veterinarians and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in the area. – He has had good skills as a pig keeper. Understanding what the animals need and their needs, says a witness from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in court. The vet visited for the last time in July 2022, while the Norwegian Food Safety Authority had an unannounced visit inside the barn at the end of April the previous year. – He was interested, did everything properly, describe the neighbour. Everything was always in order. But then it turned around. – There has never been anything objectionable before. But the impression I got when I entered the barn on 9 January is as crazy as it gets, says the neighbour. Then the neighbor and the son called the defendant’s slaughterhouse, which in turn notified the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. Two reports of concern to the Norwegian Food Safety Authority Allereie On 25 January 2022, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority received a report of concern from the meat inspection. Then the pigs that had been sent to the slaughterhouse in the last period had high deviations for joint inflammation. On 9 November, 40 pigs were sent to the slaughterhouse and another report of concern came. In the message, it is mentioned that the pigs from the farmer have a history of a lot of illness and lack of treatment. Already from the autumn of the previous year, there were an abnormally large number of pigs with disease from the defendant. – The pigs were thin, very thin. Several were discarded because they were emaciated. That’s what a witness from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority says about the report. The concern triggered an unannounced visit to the pig farmer. But the farmer was not at home nor could he be reached. The barn was locked and the Norwegian Food Safety Authority is not allowed to enter without permission from the farmer or together with the police. After about a week, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority contacted the defendant by telephone and everything seemed to be under control. – We have to trust what he says. It is the basis for how the Norwegian Food Safety Authority works. That I have trust in animal owners. And the defendant promised that he would sort it out and it was considered to be his responsibility. The Norwegian Food Safety Authority had an inspection they carried out at the end of April in 2021 in the back of their minds. Then everything was fine. At the same time that the last report of concern came, the pig did not get any more food. They noticed this at Felleskjøpet, where the farmer’s neighbor’s roommate worked. Payment for an order for fodder for the pigs did not go through, and the fodder was not purchased. Therefore, the neighbor did not give up and was determined to find out what was wrong, and notify the slaughterhouse. And when the slaughterhouse rang again on 9 January 2023, four people from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority rushed out, together with the police. A paradox that it can happen – One could have discovered this earlier if there had been better information sharing between the actors who are against the production of the person who is being prosecuted. This is what the prosecutor in the case, police lawyer Amund Sand, says about the information that has emerged in the court case. Photo: Eivind Aabakken / news Sand says that the police experience the same in similar cases. – That’s how it was in the Jøa case, which is a bit back in time. It was the same way there. The police attorney calls this a paradox in societies and productions that are so well regulated. But there may be many actors who are involved and each has their own concerns. – Part of the challenge is that there is an obligation to remain silent about what one is talking about and it is not necessarily easy to share this information in a forum, adds Sand. He informs that work has been done to put good systems in place to share concerns. – It is difficult to establish good systems for sharing information and in such a way that at an early stage one can get the whole picture and not just pieces of it. Finally, Sand adds that all responsibility still lies with animal keepers.
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Blei warned a year before anyone decided to check the animals – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
