Indiana State Police Concludes Animal Abuse Investigation

Jackson County Pig Farm

The Indiana State Police recently conducted an investigation into a Jackson County Pig Farm after receiving a complaint of animal abuse from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

The investigation by Indiana State Police-Versailles Detectives began after PETA contacted the Indiana State Police on October 9, 2019 and reported that they received a video of animal cruelty from an anonymous source that allegedly was captured at East Fork Farms in Brownstown, Indiana.      

Detectives along with a veterinarian familiar with pig farm operations conducted an inspection of the farm on Thursday, October 10, 2019.  During the inspection of the facility, neither the investigators nor the veterinarian found any evidence of animal abuse or neglect at the farm.  A second veterinarian with the Indiana Board of Animal Health (BOAH) visited the farm on a separate date.  The second veterinarian also did not find any evidence of animal abuse.  The veterinarians did provide East Fork Farms with some recommendations on how to improve the facility and better care for the pigs.    

Through the course of the investigation, detectives determined that an unknown person or persons illegally entered East Fork Farms near Brownstown, Indiana on multiple occasions in September and October 2019 where they captured video inside the facility at night when no workers were present.  Detectives determined that cameras were then hidden inside the facility to capture daytime operations.

The investigation established that some of the clips were staged for the purpose of capturing the video and other video clips may have been filmed at a different facility. Detectives have not been able to identify the person who filmed the videos and the identity of the person has not been made available to detectives by PETA.

At the conclusion of the investigation, the case was presented to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office for review.  After a review of the investigation, Jackson County Prosecutor Jeff Chalfant made the determination that no charges would be filed in this case.