Following protests earlier this month in Chile, which led to clashes with the police and the blockading of a mega-farm, the company responsible for the farm has said it will slaughter the half million pigs left at the site when it was abandoned two weeks ago. The government intervened in the situation early last week to prevent a health crisis; officials said last Tuesday that many of the pigs left at the Agrosuper plant in the Atacama Desert had already died of dehydration and starvation.

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According to government sources, the plant’s waste treatment facilities were at risk of overflowing and polluting scare local water resources following its abandonment.

The Atacama site is the world’s largest pig farm; although half a million animals were present when the plant’s employees were evacuated after days of protest by local residents, at full capacity the site can hold 2.3 million pigs. Last week, government negotiators persuaded the protestors to end their blockade of the site and allow environment officers and employees back inside, after concerns were raised over a potential health crisis.     

Rioting began on 17th May in Freirina, following a month of unheeded complaints about the farm’s smell, resulting in the ‘siege’ of the plant. The government last week gave Agrosuper six months to evacuate its animals, after which officials said the plant would be closed indefinitely. However, the company told local reporters that moving the animals would be unfeasible so they will be killed on site.

Agrosuper’s chief executive, Jose Guzman said yesterday that pigs left at the farm will be slaughtered as it would take 50,000 trucks to remove the animals and the company has nowhere to take them. He said the dead pigs will be buried in specially prepared pits and the site will be disinfected.

The company has blamed the stench on a failed waste treatment system in which microorganisms should have broken down the pigs’ waste. It has also admitted to ventilation problems at the farm.

However, in the wake of the turmoil, Guzmán blamed the protestors and claimed his company was in the process of correcting problems at the site when rioting started. Local residents said the site had been a problem since September and caused those living nearby to suffer from stomach pains, headaches and other adverse reactions.

The company’s other pig and chicken farms elsewhere in Chile are also reported to have caused friction with neighbouring communities.  

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