#53Pigs

The story so far by Beneath the Wood Sanctuary

We first got involved when a member of Vegan Actions Wales asked us to share a petition that they had started in late March of this year. The petition was to save 53 Pigs from slaughter after being rescued from a cruelty case in Pembrokeshire. They had been condemned to death as they were ‘not fit for human consumption’ even though they had just been seized and therefore rescued from an illegal slaughterhouse where they endured cruelty and neglect. They were rescued only to face death!

That was the first we knew about the Bramble Hall Farm Cruelty case. We pushed the petition and about a week later Vegan Actions Wales asked us to attend a meeting at Haverfordwest Police Station. The meeting was with them, Pembrokeshire County Council Public Health, Pembrokeshire County Council Animal Welfare and the local Police Chief Inspector. We were asked to go at midday the day before the meeting. So we had very little time to prepare. We knew the only way to save these pigs would be via a legal route and that’s how we wanted to attend the meeting, from a legal point and how we could save them using the law.

We put a shout out on social media asking for a vegan solicitor that could advise us urgently. By this time it was already mid afternoon. Various recommendations were given, but we had little response when we contacted them, either no reply or a no we can’t help. One of the law firms suggested was Advocates for Animals law firm.

By this time it was gone 5 and we were losing hope of getting the advise we needed ahead of the meeting, we wanted to go in armed with the right questions. Then we got a reply from Edie Bowles from Advocates For Animals Law. She wanted the background so we sent her the available press stories about the raid at Bramble Hall Farm. She agreed to help and spent the whole evening emailing us back and forth right up till midnight. She gave us a list of questions that we needed to find out. But more than that she gave us the confidence to say ‘our solicitor would like to know’ changing the whole dynamics of the meeting, so we would be taken seriously and not just fobbed off. So this is how it all started and when we first started #53Pigs!