Opposition to the proposed Blantyre Farms piggery in Harden has reached an all time high, after the council received the largest number of complaints on record.
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The public were able to lodge complaints with the Harden Shire Council regarding the piggery’s development application until February 5.
The council’s director of environmental services Sharon Langman said the council were “overwhelmed” with the response.
“We got a lot more submissions than we were expecting and we haven’t had the time to go through them all yet,” she said.
“A lot of them are related to animal welfare issues, but there were also issues raised with odour, traffic, water and effluent management.”
Early in January the Say No to Blantyre Farms in Harden group launched a Facebook page to drum up support for their campaign and encourage people to oppose the proposal.
Facebook page founder Lisa Ryan said local dissent against the proposed piggery was gaining more momentum than even she anticipated.
"People start getting brave and speaking out with you when there's someone there to lead the movement and that's what's happening here,” she said.
“I think the council’s quite shell-shocked by the response.”
The group’s main objections with the piggery include animal cruelty, environmental issues and various social issues, including the mental health of the piggery workers who are forced to kill weak piglets.
Ms Ryan cited the cutting off of the animal’s teeth and tails without pain relief and minimal amount of movement space as the most serious breaches of animal welfare.
It's not just those from the Harden community who are raising objections to the piggery, with Wagga local Pennie Scott, who runs an organic pig farm at Big Springs, voicing her outrage.
"It's hideous,” she said. “There's just so much suffering and it’s all so consumers can have cheap bacon.”
