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WOMAN TO SPEND 21 DAYS AND NIGHTS IN PIG FARROWING CRATE IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE

This morning (01/09/26) Animal rights campaigner Michelle Farnham entered a pig farrowing crate outside the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square where she will remain for 21 days, as Animal Rising launches its campaign to end factory farming in Britain by 2040.


The action coincides with the release today of never-before-seen footage following a month in the life of Luna, a sow confined in a farrowing crate on a British factory farm. Animal Rising are calling for the release of Luna from Red Court Farm in Ipswich. [1]


For three weeks, Michelle will remain inside the crate day and night, experiencing a fraction of the confinement imposed on sows like Luna: pigs trapped in these crates are able to stand up and lie down, but are unable to turn around, causing intense physical and psychological suffering.


Journalists are invited to attend the installation in Trafalgar Square to interview and film Michelle inside the farrowing crate, as well as speak to Animal Rising spokespeople on location. Please contact press@animalrising.org or call +44 1225 29 6691 to arrange interviews.


  • Michelle Farnham will spend 21 consecutive days and nights inside a farrowing crate in Trafalgar Square, as part of a new installation launching Animal Rising's End Factory Farming campaign, which is calling on the UK Government to commit to ending factory farming by 2040 and publish a roadmap for the transition. [2]

  • The Government's Animal Welfare Strategy for England states that approximately 92% of indoor pig production systems continue to use farrowing crates, where pigs due to give birth and nursing piglets are confined for a month at a time, with commercial sows typically giving birth twice a year. [3]

  • Animal Rising is simultaneously releasing never-before-seen footage documenting a month in the life of a sow named Luna, filmed inside Red Court Farm, Ipswich. 

  • Animal Rising is calling on Red Court Farm to release Luna into sanctuary, rather than confining her through another pregnancy, birth and separation from her piglets.

  • The new campaign follows Animal Rising's 2024 investigations into RSPCA Assured farms and slaughterhouses [4] and marks the beginning of its new campaign examining factory farming across Britain.


Why Michelle entered the crate


Michelle Farnham has spent years examining conditions inside British animal farms. She studied Animal Management for two years and has since reviewed hundreds of hours of undercover footage recorded inside UK pig farms, working alongside veterinary and animal welfare law experts, such as for Animal Rising’s reviews of RSPCA Assured farms and slaughterhouses. [4]


She says witnessing the confinement experienced by pigs like Luna led her to take the extraordinary step of entering the crate herself.


Farnham previously made national headlines as one of the Animal Rising campaigners who took action at the 2023 Grand National, where photographs of her arrest appeared in national press. [5]


Michelle will remain in the Trafalgar Square installation 24 hours a day for 21 days and nights.


Michelle commented:

“I want people to see just how restrictive and abhorrent the factory farming system is.
“I've seen firsthand the physical and psychological suffering these crates cause. Right now, tens of thousands of mother pigs are confined in farrowing crates just like this one, unable even to turn around.
“I'll be inside this crate for 21 days. It will be a huge physical challenge and I know it's going to be tough, but at the end I get to walk away. But the pigs don't get a choice. Once they're released from the crate, it's only a matter of time before they're confined in one again.
“And this is just one example of the suffering built into factory farming. We don't have to accept this system - we’re asking the government to bring an end to factory farming for good.”

Rose Patterson, Director of Animal Rising, who holds an MSc in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, said:


"For 21 days, in the heart of London, Michelle will give people a glimpse of a reality that is normally kept behind closed doors. But after three weeks, Michelle can step out. For Luna and thousands of other mother pigs, there is no such choice.
"Our cameras followed Luna for a month. We watched her give birth behind bars, confined and barely able to move for weeks, and we watched as her piglets were eventually taken away from her.
"Luna isn't just footage from an investigation. She is an individual; like all pigs she is intelligent, sensitive and curious, and right now she is still inside the farming system and will soon be forced back into a crate. We believe there is still time to change her story. We are calling on Red Court Farm to release Luna to sanctuary.

“Luna's story is just the tip of the iceberg. More than a billion animals are reared and slaughtered in the UK every year. Factory farming causes suffering on a vast scale while contributing to the climate and nature crises. It's a broken system that fails animals, people and the planet, and we deserve better.
“We're calling on the Government to commit to ending factory farming by 2040. This campaign starts with Luna, but it won't end with her. We believe we can free Luna, and we believe Britain can end factory farming.”

High-resolution photographs and footage of Luna from the investigation are available to media.


ENDS

Word count: 872


All images and videos in this file, on our social media, and website can be used with credit to Animal Rising under ‘fair use’ for the purposes of reporting.


For more information or further comments, please email press@animalrising.org or call  +44 1225 29 6691


Notes to editors


Slaughterhouse report:



 
 
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