In October 2024, in the fields near the town of Zbarazh, Ternopil region, an incident occurred that shocked even those who regularly encounter cases of animal cruelty. Employees of the agricultural company Continental Farmers Group organized a real safari, turning farmland into an arena of torture for wild boars. It was not an accident or a forced defense – it was bloody entertainment that demonstrated an absolute disregard for life.
Abuse for fun
Videos of this horror have spread across social media. The footage shows combine harvesters deliberately driving wild boars across the field, pinning them to the ground with huge wheels. One of the workers, having fun, throws stones and sticks at the animals. The most terrifying moment was when a pregnant female wild boar was tied to a tractor and dragged along the ground, with the fetuses of her unborn boars flying out of her.
Source: tp.npu.gov.ua.
These savages didn't even try to hide their actions, they laughed and filmed the mockery on their phones, and then bragged about their “entertainment” among their fellow villagers and on social media. It seemed that they did not see these animals as living beings experiencing pain and fear, but only as toys for their inhuman entertainment.
Source: tp.npu.gov.ua.
What was the public reaction?
Citizens and animal protection organizations
When the video was posted on social media, a huge wave of outrage erupted: the largest Ukrainian media outlets wrote about the case. Social media users harshly condemned the offenders, and animal rights activists demanded the most severe punishment.
Animal protection organizations, including URSA and the Association of Animal Protection Organizations of Ukraine (APOU), filed statements with the police to open criminal proceedings against the cruelty killers and also issued an official demand to the management of the agro-industrial company Continental Farmers Group to immediately dismiss the employees involved in animal cruelty and the distribution of violent content.
“We have seen widespread coverage of the horrific case of a group of men abusing wild pigs. The country's major media outlets, the Prosecutor General's Office, animal rights activists, and activists wrote about it, and the video of the crime was shared by opinion leaders,” the animal rights organization UAnimals said in a commentary to EcoPolitics.
Agricultural company
The agricultural company Continental Farmers Group, where the sadists worked, conducted an internal investigation and said they had identified those responsible for the torture of animals. Both 6 of their employees and 2 employees of a contractor abused the boars.
The company's management stated that it had fired the animal eaters for violating the rules of the corporate ethics code and terminated cooperation with this contractor.
“In order to prevent this from happening in the future, we have made appropriate changes to the code of corporate ethics, strengthened internal regulations and controls at all levels of the company and introduced training programs for our employees aimed at raising awareness and responsibility in the treatment of animals,” Continental Farmers Group said.
It is difficult to say how effective these measures will be.
Lack of punishment as an unacceptable reality
The police opened criminal proceedings over the abuse of animals under Article 299 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – cruelty to animals committed with particular cruelty, and Article 248 – illegal hunting committed by a group of people with the use of vehicles. Law enforcement officers found that there were two such cases – in different districts of the region – and identified those involved in one of them. According to ZAXID.NET, they were residents of Zborivska and Berezhanska communities Vitaliy Martyniuk, Mykola Zhvirblevskyi and Andriy Holovaty.
The lawyers insisted that this crime should have been punished as severely as possible, as it was committed with particular cruelty. However, the Zboriv District Court passed a verdict that outraged the public.
Three employees of an agricultural company received only a suspended sentence for 1 year for the cruelty to wild boars in the field of the Zalozetska community, and paid more than UAH 300 thousand in damages to the State Specialized Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. This means that they will not serve a single day behind bars. They will just have to “behave well” for a year.
So how did it happen that the cannibals and sadists were actually left without proper punishment, even though they should have received 5 to 8 years in prison? The fact is that the Zboriv Department of the Berezhany District Prosecutor's Office made a deal with these villains. They “fully admitted their guilt, sincerely repented,” and were therefore released from serving their sentences.
“We saw the active involvement of various parties in both the coverage of the case and the investigation process, but even this did not help to achieve a fair verdict. Zborivsky District Court published the reasons for this decision in its verdict. Our position remains unchanged: no cooperation with the investigation, no plea of guilty and no assistance to the investigation should have released the accused from prison,” UAnimals told EcoPolitics.
The Ministry that is silent
Despite the huge public outcry and the obvious cruelty of this case, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine has not made any official statement or comment on it. According to paragraph 85 of the Ministry's Regulations, one of its key tasks is to protect wildlife, but the agency has ignored this egregious crime.
According to the staffing table for 2024, the department has a department of biosafety and protection, reproduction of flora and fauna, which employs 4 people. And none of the specialists had time to respond to either the abuse of animals or the very lenient sentence for the animal abusers.
At the same time, there was an opportunity to respond to the closure of the swan shelter in Mezhyhiria in late February: Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk herself instructed her deputy, Victoria Kireeva, to look into the matter.
EcoPolitic asked the ministry to comment on the situation, but we did not receive any response. Such indifference raises a natural question: is the Ministry of Ecology ready to fulfill one of its responsibilities and really protect animals, or is it just a formality on paper? Why does the body that is supposed to be in charge of wildlife protection stand by when a clear act of cruelty takes place that was simply impossible not to see?
The silence of the Ministry only increases the distrust of citizens and animal protection organizations in the government. This proves once again that without active public pressure and changes in legislation, we cannot expect real animal protection.
Why the authorities should not turn a blind eye
This story is not just another case of violence. It is an alarming signal of deeper problems in society: the lack of humane treatment of living beings, the low level of legal protection of animals, and insufficient punishment for such crimes.
The animal rights organization UAnimals told us that they are constantly working in advocacy, legal, and educational areas to ensure that “animals are treated humanely, that cruelty to animals is punished, and that the bloody and callous nature of such crimes is not minimized.” In particular, UAnimals' legal department is working to improve animal protection legislation.
“We are initiating an increase in fines, as well as toughening administrative and criminal liability for animal cruelty. We have also started cooperation with the Special Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Training Center of Prosecutors of Ukraine to improve the process of pre-trial investigation of crimes against animals,” said the animal rights activists.
This cooperation is aimed at ensuring that all the necessary procedures are followed in proceedings related to animal cruelty and that such cases are brought to court more often.
If we don't act now, if we don't introduce real changes to the legislation, tomorrow our pets may become victims of such sadists. And the day after that – people.
We have no right to remain silent. Everyone who feels justice in their hearts must demand change. Because a society without mercy is a society without a future.
