Farmhand who crushed 79 piglets to death sentenced

The accused, 19, was employed at the smallholding in Huércal-Overa (Almería province) at the time, and the piglets – who had just been weaned – were between 19 and 27 days old.

In the attack, 19 of them were killed outright and another 60 were so badly injured they either died later or had to be put to sleep.

The accused and the colleague who videoed him were ordered to pay the farm €60 each per piglet, or a total of €4,470 a head, which they have already settled.

They have also been banned from working with or owning animals for another three-and-a-half years.

Horrific pictures of the flattened piglets were released at the time in the Spanish media after the killer, identified only by his initials of D.A.A., shared the video on WhatsApp.

He later claimed he had not been trying to kill or injure the animals, only intending to jump into the pen, and that the piglets 'all moved out of the way' before he landed.

Brushing it off as 'a moment of childishness', the defendant said the pictures used in the news were not the same piglets, but were of animals much younger.

He claimed his colleague had not known what he was about to do when he started filming.

The vet who works for the farm confirmed that the piglets on the photographs were indeed the dead ones, and that they had died from being crushed in circumstances consistent with an adult male jumping on them.

If D.A.A.'s pig-killing is a first offence, he will not have to serve a custodial sentence since the prison term awarded is less than two years.