Inspection finds no major problems at St. Pölten fattening farm

A livestock fattening farm in the St. Pölten district currently faces no consequences after an inspection found no significant irregularities, ORF’s Lower Austria outlet reported.

The district authority said the inspection on August 31 was largely unremarkable and identified only minor deficiencies. It said conditions shown in photos published by the Association Against Animal Factories, known as VGT, were not found during inspections on August 12 or August 31.

The authority also said the farm could not be closed under the Animal Welfare Act. The office of Lower Austria’s animal welfare minister, Susanne Rosenkranz of the Freedom Party, said all legally available measures had been exhausted. The St. Pölten public prosecutor’s office has not received a case.

VGT had filed its fourth complaint against the farm after publishing anonymously recorded photos and videos. The group said some sheep and goats appeared extremely thin, as if they were close to starving, and that some weak and underweight animals appeared unable to move in their pens.

The activists also alleged that the farmer continued to work in the barn and mistreat animals despite an existing ban on keeping animals.

Rosenkranz said the farmer’s wife was also threatened with a ban on keeping animals. The measure is apparently being circumvented because the couple’s daughter is currently formally responsible for the approximately 1,000 animals, she said. VGT has filed a complaint against the farmer and his wife.