Investigation of North Carolina Pig Farm Results in Historic Felony Cruelty Convictions

April 2000

In 1998, following an undercover investigation by PETA at Belcross Farm, a pig-breeding factory farm in North Carolina, Camden County Superior Court made history by handing down the first-ever felony indictments for cruelty to animals by farm workers. Three workers were convicted and sentenced after PETA released hours of video footage that revealed shocking, systematic cruelty, from daily beatings of pregnant sows with a wrench and an iron pole to skinning pigs alive and sawing off a conscious animal’s legs.