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Jeremy Clarkson says he can “never sleep” the night before taking his farmed animals to the slaughterhouse.
The former Top Gear presenter owns Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire, and stars in an Amazon Prime series called Clarkson’s Farm. He spoke about feeling a “gut-wrenching loss” when taking the animals he raises to be killed.
“I realise of course that it would be very Jeremyish to say that I enjoy taking my farm animals to the abattoir,” he wrote in an article for The Sunday Times. “But like many farmers I don’t. I absolutely hate it.”
Clarkson went on to say that it was “bad enough with the sheep and worse with the cows.” He then discussed his experience taking pigs.
“I can never sleep properly the night before they go, and all the way to the slaughterhouse I have what feels like a hot cricket ball in the pit of my stomach,” he said.
‘I know I will enjoy the bacon and ham’
Clarkson said that he becomes “a little bit unmanly” when it’s time so say “goodbye.”
“I know that I’m trying to be a farmer and that this is what farmers do,” he continued. “And I know I will enjoy the bacon and ham and pork chops that result.
“But it’s not easy, taking seven happy, healthy pigs from their woodland home to their deaths.
“Especially as pig prices are currently so low I’ll almost certainly end up making a loss on the transaction.”
The ‘humane’ slaughter myth
Clarkson went on to say that the pigs are killed with carbon dioxide gassing, which he describes as “humane.” This method is used to kill around 86 percent of pigs in the UK. They are generally subjected to an 80 percent concentration of the gas, which forms an acid when it touches wet surfaces like their eyes, lungs, and throats. Experts have previously disputed any claim that this is “humane,” stating that the pigs “burn from the inside out.“
Find out more about carbon dioxide gassing in the video below (warning: it contains graphic content that some may find upsetting)
Jeremy Clarkson’s anti-veganism
Despite Clarkson’s apparent compassion for the animals on his farm, he repeatedly expresses public disdain for the people who choose not to eat them.
He previously declared that “normal people eat meat,” and has also branded vegans as “lunatics.”
Clarkson made the latter comment when criticizing Oxfordshire County Council’s decision to serve only plant-based food at internal events, a move he described as “utter madness.”
The presenter also recently claimed vegans get “very little sex,” stating that they’re “obviously mad” for choosing not to consume cows’ milk.
