Man who killed 79 piglets by belly flopping on them jailed for 15 months

Court in Spain rules man’s actions 'unjustifiable and cruel'

A still from the video in which the man jumps onto the piglets three times (BelíSSimo/YouTube)

A man has been jailed for 15 months after he belly-flopped repeatedly onto piglets, killing 79 of them, in a crime that was described by the judge as “repulsive”.

In a video, filmed by the man’s work colleague, the overweight man can be seen leaping onto the piglets three times.

A court in Almeria, Spain, ruled the man’s actions as “unjustifiable and cruel”.

Both the man and the colleague who filmed the incident and shared it via Whatsapp have been banned from working in any job connected to animals for three and a half years.

Both men, aged 18 and 22 at the time, were ordered to pay 4,470 euros, 60 euros for each piglet, to the company that owned them.

The prosecution called for a harsher punishment for the man who recorded the video.

The court heard that the man decided to jump on the group of piglets and threw himself on them after gaining momentum as if it was a “swimming pool”.

According to Spain’s el Periódico newspaper the defendants told the court the stunt was a “prank”.

Nineteen piglets died at the scene, and others injured had to be put down.