Pro-vegan group hold 'vigil' outside Wolverhampton slaughterhouse

Members of vegan protest group West Midlands Animal Save joined locals outside FA Gill, known as Gills, covering the walls with pro-vegan graffiti.

Sydney Singh, who lives near the site, was among the near 20-strong group holding placards on Parkfield Road and described the abattoir as a 'misery to the area'.

"The situation here is getting worse," the 40-year-old said.

"They had two trailers here on Sunday - it ruined our weekend.

"Normally Monday to Friday is bad enough, but this weekend there was two trailers of pigs from 12pm on Sunday outside, as they don't have them on the site, until they were slaughtered on Monday morning.

"The pigs are there waiting to be slaughtered, some of them covered in blood cause they've been biting each other.

"It's a misery to the area, it's really bad what they're doing here.

"The smell, the sound of the pigs squealing - my kids get scared when they hear the pigs screaming so loud, it's very disturbing.

Mr Singh, a security officer who turned vegetarian because of the slaughterhouse, said he's seen children vomit walking to Park Hill Primary vomit from the smell.

He added: "Other kids that have to walk past here to go to school cover their faces from the smell, I've seen some of the be sick from it on three different occasions.

"I turned vegetarian four years ago because of this place. I was walking past here once and I actually saw the eyes of the pigs and when I saw the eyes, it struck home. These are God's creation as well.

"We've been complaining for years, but nothing's being done about it. "

FA Gill were contacted but declined comment.

Maria Wilkes, organiser at West Midlands Animal Save, insisted the demonstration was a 'vigil' rather than a protest.

"This is not a protest as they're already going to get killed, this is a vigil to say bye to the animals," she said.

"It might sound silly to some people - we take photos of the pigs and document the victims of the meat trade.

"Normally we go up to the trucks and the security will get them to stop and we talk to the animals, take selfies and make a note of the conditions of the animals.

"We've been chalking, rather than graffiti, as this can be washed off.

"This is all peace based - it might look a bit in your face, but no one's shouting, we're not harassing people and we're not here to judge the staff, as much as we disagree, to some of them unfortunately it's just a job.

"It's about making people aware or reminding them what's here, as thousands of animals are killed."

West Midlands Animal Save will go to Janan Meat, a halal slaughterhouse in Kingswinford, Dudley, tomorrow for their second 'vigil.'