VGT demands tougher controls after hundreds of pigs found dead
Thursday 13th August 2026 on 13:30 in
Austria
Austria’s Association Against Animal Factories, known as VGT, held a vigil on Thursday after severe abuses were uncovered at a pig farm in the Amstetten district, ORF reported. The group criticised the country’s inspection system as too infrequent and ineffective.
The vigil took place outside the farm and the Amstetten district authority. The VGT called for new legislation to address extreme cases.
“The current systems are incapable of taking effective action against these crimes,” said Isabell Eckl of the VGT. She said complaints were regularly not taken seriously enough, inspections remained incomplete and abuses were dealt with through orders to rectify shortcomings.
The animal welfare group also said people charged with animal cruelty had little to fear because the low penalties meant acquittals and diversion proceedings were commonplace.
VGT points to inspection shortfall
The VGT said the inspection system had legal and budgetary gaps. Citing figures from Austria’s 2023 agricultural structure survey, it said only a few hundred official veterinarians were responsible for 75,559 farms across the country.
The group said people affected by the system repeatedly told it that inspectors were effectively unable to act. Veterinarians working under contracts with farms were bound to those businesses, while official veterinarians could in most cases only demand “toothless” corrective measures, the VGT said.
The scale of the problems at the Amstetten farm became known on Tuesday. About 400 dead or partly decomposed pigs were found, while investigations also identified a shortfall of around 1,000 animals.
Fifty-five pigs died at the farm last year after a ventilation failure. An official veterinarian visited the farm at the time. The Lower Austrian veterinary directorate said there had been no reason to carry out another inspection because the ventilation system had already been repaired during the visit on May 13, 2025. The directorate rejects allegations that authorities failed in their inspections.