Pig skyscraper

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The "pig tower" near Maasdorf

When pigs skyscraper one is stable system for pig at Maas village in Saxony-Anhalt called. The building, erected in 1970, was considered a prestige object of the GDR due to its special architectural form and is now operated by HET GmbH under the direction of the Dutchman Michiel Taken. Around 500 hybrid sows are kept for breeding on a total of six floors, i.e. as vertical agriculture . Since 2015 there have been regular strong criticism and protests against the facility for offenses against animal welfare . In September 2018, the building was cleared because it was being converted and then put back into operation. In January 2019 it was still unclear how the building would actually go on. The District Office has not yet received an application.

In 2018, a pig high-rise building complex with up to 13 floors was under construction in the Yaji region in southern China. There should be space for 1,000 sows per floor, and a total of around 840,000 piglets should be born in the complex every year.

investment

The building was built in 1969/1970 as a prefabricated construction and was considered a prestige object by the leadership of the GDR and the Soviet Union . Automated work processes should increase the efficiency in pig production. Originally, the animals could be transported with two freight elevators. One elevator can transport three sows or 50 piglets at the same time. One elevator is currently in operation.

Purebred sows are kept for nucleus breeding and sows for propagation breeding. The piglets produced in reproductive breeding are sold to rearing and fattening companies.

criticism

In March 2015, the German Animal Welfare Office denounced the keeping conditions and published illegally produced video material from the building. Sows could not turn around or stretch out while being kept. Because the crate stalls were too small , the organization filed a complaint against HET GmbH as the operator. The advertisement was discontinued in April 2016 by the Dessau public prosecutor because the crate stalls had since been adjusted. The Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of Agriculture investigated the case. Although it found deficiencies, these were "nowhere near as serious as generally assumed".

In 2016, video recordings from the pig tower were published again. In particular, in addition to hygienic defects and injuries, the size of the crate stalls are again criticized. The Saxony-Anhalt Agriculture Minister Claudia Dalbert ( The Greens ), who was in office for three months at the time, announced that “such conditions would no longer be tolerated under their aegis, there should be no looking away.” The animal welfare office put again a complaint against the operator because crate stalls were too small, which, like the first complaint, remained without result The operator of the pig tower, on the other hand, reported activists from the German Animal Welfare Office to the Koethen District Court in 2016 for trespassing ; however, the proceedings were discontinued due to a formal error.

While there were no complaints during controls by the district , new grievances became public in 2018 through hidden recordings. In March 2018, animal rights activists again published video material. At the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018, the housing conditions were once again documented in 500 hours of film material with hidden cameras. Employees can be seen kicking and beating animals, taking the piglets by their hind legs and sometimes beating their heads on the ground several times to kill them. Pictures from video recordings were shown to the Greens Saxony-Anhalt Agriculture Minister Dalbert in 2018, who now described them as "disgusting" and the handling of the animals shown on them as "unacceptable". A subsequent control revealed deficiencies in hygiene, husbandry management, handling sick animals and in the documentation. The public prosecutor's office then initiated investigations into suspected violations of the Animal Welfare Act. Due to the ongoing investigation which provided Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University of Bonn in September 2018 its cooperation with the HET GmbH and also operated by Michiel Taken Genesus Germany GmbH as part of the joint research project Roiporq - Alternative pigs a which should have run from January 2017 to December 2019.

Protest in front of the pig tower in October 2016

Protests

Again and again there are protests against the facility and the conditions in which it is kept. At the largest demonstration to date on April 22, 2018, 600 people demonstrated for the closure of the pig tower.

In August 2018, the German Animal Welfare Office awarded the “Heartlessness Prize” to the pig tower. In September 2018 animal rights activists drove up with an excavator and demanded that it be demolished. An online petition from the German Animal Welfare Office to close the building was signed more than 280,000 times. This was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture of Saxony-Anhalt on October 9, 2018.

See also

Commons : Pig Tower  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ mdr.de: Maasdorf near Koethen: 600 animal rights activists against the pig tower | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed October 29, 2018]).
  2. ↑ The high-rise pig building in Saxony-Anhalt does not only make animal rights activists shudder . In: Stern TV . March 14, 2018 ( stern.de [accessed October 29, 2018]).
  3. ↑ Demolition required: Animal rights activists drive up to the pig tower with an excavator . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . ( mz-web.de [accessed October 29, 2018]).
  4. ↑ mdr.de: Modernization plans: Schweinhochaus Maasdorf should be empty in autumn | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed on April 23, 2018]).
  5. ↑ After massive protests - animals leave the controversial pig tower . In: bild.de . ( bild.de [accessed on April 23, 2018]).
  6. ↑ mdr.de: What next with the pig tower? | MDR.DE. Retrieved February 3, 2019 .
  7. ↑ mdr.de: What next with the pig tower? | MDR.DE. Retrieved February 3, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Peter Carstens: Pig skyscrapers: Is that the future of meat production? GEO.DE, accessed on October 22, 2019 .
  9. ↑ dlz agrarmagazin, Per Lift for Farrowing ( Memento from March 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ Animal welfare demonstration against the "pig tower" ( Memento from March 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Helmut Dawal: Piglets brutally driven into transporters? In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , 12. December 2014, accessed March 20, 2018.
  12. ↑ a b Katharina Weber: After investigations by the public prosecutor - universities stop cooperation with hog tower . In: General-Anzeiger Bonn . September 26, 2018 ( general-anzeiger-bonn.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Catastrophic conditions ?: Animal rights activists file criminal charges against high-rise pigs . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung . ( mz-web.de [accessed on November 8, 2018]).
  14. ↑ Ministry of Agriculture in Saxony-Anhalt: Extra control group planned for pig stalls. Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , March 26, 2015, accessed on March 30, 2015 .
  15. ↑ Officially ordained cruelty to animals? In: rbb-online.de. August 25, 2016. Retrieved March 17, 2018 .
  16. ↑ a b High-rise pig building in Saxony-Anhalt not only makes animal rights activists shudder. In: stern.de . March 14, 2018, accessed March 19, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Luisa Willmann: Petition against the breeding company: Close the pig tower! In: The daily newspaper: taz . August 25, 2018, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  18. ↑ mdr.de: Minister of Agriculture shaken by videos of the pig tower | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed on November 8, 2018]).
  19. ↑ According to star TV report on animal torture: operators of the pig tower are threatened with consequences . In: Stern TV . March 21, 2018 ( stern.de [accessed November 8, 2018]).
  20. ↑ Agriculture minister shaken by videos of the pig tower. In: mdr.de. March 15, 2018, accessed March 17, 2018 .
  21. ↑ dpa: Dalbert: Pictures from the pig tower are disgusting. In: volksstimme.de. Retrieved March 16, 2018 .
  22. ↑ Horror high-rise pigs targeted by the authorities. In: TAG24. March 17, 2018, accessed March 17, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Defects found during inspection in the pig tower. In: mdr.de. March 16, 2018, accessed March 17, 2018 .
  24. ↑ mdr.de: Violations of the Animal Welfare Act: Investigations against operators of high-rise pigs | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed April 8, 2018]).
  25. ^ Dpa: GDR plant: animal rights activists protest against pig breeding. In: THE WORLD. March 13, 2015, accessed March 17, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Animal rights activists demand closure of ... In: rtl.de . ( rtl.de [accessed on April 22, 2018]). Animal rights activists demand closure of ... ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rtl.de
  27. ↑ Luisa Willmann: Petition against the breeding company: Close the pig tower! In: The daily newspaper: taz . August 25, 2018, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed on February 3, 2019]).
  28. ↑ Demolition required: Animal rights activists drive up to the pig tower with an excavator. September 27, 2018, accessed on February 3, 2019 (German).
  29. ↑ mdr.de: Petition against high-rise pigs in Maasdorf handed over | MDR.DE . ( mdr.de [accessed on November 8, 2018]).

Coordinates: 51 ° 41 ′ 12.9 "  N , 11 ° 57 ′ 40.7"  E