Staff at a piggery have been left shocked after arriving for work one morning only to be confronted by an 'ocean ' of about 500 dead pigs . It is believed that the pigs at the Pig Improvement Company ( PIC ) in Grong Grong , NSW , died of extreme heat exhaustion , after an air-conditioning system in the holding shed failed on February 23 . According to an anonymous whistleblower 's tip-off to The Daily Advertiser , a security company was alerted when the system faltered but they failed to contact on-call employees to notify them in time and all 500 pigs in the piggery baked to death . Over 500 pigs have died in a piggery in NSW due to heat exhaustion after an air-conditioner broke . Pig Improvement Company CEO Paul O'Leary claims the company , who employ 25 staff , are thousands of dollars out of pocket and all the staff are traumatised by the incident . He said that further investigation into the disaster appeared to show that the shed did not have an adequate ventilation system . 'We have 24-hour monitored alarm systems , ' Mr O ' Leary said . 'In this instance the alert was unable to avert a disaster – a situation every business dreads . 'The consequence was distressed staff arriving onsite the following morning to discover the stock losses . ' Mr O'Leary told the newspaper that such a loss has been emotional for the staff , who invest a lot of their time into caring for the pigs . In May last year , Grong Grong piggery came under scrutiny when video footage appeared online apparently showing piglets in pieces and pregnant sows confined to tiny stalls . At the time , Australian Pork Limited told the newspaper that the video footage of the piglets scattered across the ground was clearly staged . Pig Improvement Company CEO Paul O'Leary claims the company , who employ 25 staff , are thousands of dollars out of pocket and all the staff are traumatised by the incident . 'These people have broken and entered in these properties in the dead of night and disturbed and distressed the animals , ' Ms Mackintosh said . 'They portray this as the way the pig industry does business and that 's not the case . Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald , animal protection group Voiceless expressed his concern over the fact that the pig deaths had been covered up . 'That these animals reportedly died in such a horrifying way , and the public and relevant authorities have apparently been kept in the dark for weeks , raises serious concerns around the transparency and accountability of this industry , ' a spokesperson said . 'This represents a disgusting and unacceptable failure to ensure animal welfare , and one which would have caused those 500 sentient beings unimaginable suffering . ' The whistleblower is apparently a member of staff and was reportedly told by management that they would lose their job if they told anyone . However CEO Mr O'Leary has denied this .
500 dead pigs have been found in a NSW piggery . It is believed the pigs died from extreme heat exhaustion in Grong Grong . The company say an air-conditioning system failed over the weekend . Staff arrived into work on Monday to find an 'ocean ' of dead pigs . Comment: