‘21 days locked in a crate’: Woman’s Shocking Mission To Expose The reality Of Factory Farming

23rd September 202623rd September 2026 Francesca Lilleystone 0 Comments Anmal Rising, Crates, Factory Farming, Pigs min read

Woman walks free after spending 21 days and nights inside a pig farrowing crate in Trafalgar Square

A campaigner has walked free from a pig farrowing crate in the heart of London after spending 21 consecutive days and nights inside it, highlighting what Animal Rising says is the reality faced by mother pigs confined in farrowing crates.

Michelle Farnham, a campaign lead for Animal Rising, entered the crate at 7am on 1 September and remained inside until 11am on Tuesday, 22 September.

After 21 days and nights without leaving the crate, Michelle emerged to a crowd of around 100 supporters in Trafalgar Square, where she was reunited with her partner and family.

And just imagine that for a moment.

Twenty-one days and 21 nights locked inside a crate, unable to simply walk away.

For Michelle, that was the point.

The action was designed to bring the issue of intensive farming directly into public view and encourage people to think about what animals experience when they are confined.

Thousands of passersby encountered the installation during the three weeks it stood in one of London’s busiest public spaces, with many stopping to speak to Michelle about her experience and the conditions Animal Rising says are faced by animals inside factory farms.

The campaign has also attracted national and international media attention, with visitors including former RSPCA president Chris Packham and Green MP Adrian Ramsay.

Animal Rising says Michelle’s action marks the beginning of a longer-term campaign calling on the Government to commit to ending factory farming by 2040.

The organisation says further investigations and exposés of conditions inside British farms will follow.

Michelle’s action was inspired by Luna, a mother pig whose life Animal Rising says it documented for a month on a Suffolk factory farm.

The organisation says Luna was kept in a farrowing crate similar to the one Michelle occupied in Trafalgar Square.

According to Animal Rising, around 200,000 mother pigs are confined in farrowing crates in the UK each year, with sows potentially spending four to five weeks at a time inside the crates.

For anyone who has never seen a farrowing crate, it can be difficult to comprehend what that means.

A mother pig can be confined within a restricted space around the time she gives birth and nurses her piglets.

Michelle chose to experience a similar confinement herself for 21 days.

She could eventually walk away.

The animals cannot make that choice.

Michelle told the Havering Daily that her message is aimed directly at the Government.

“The message is for the Government to end factory farming. For Luna and every other animal in cages and farrowing crates. Luna is one in 200,000 pigs kept in these horrific conditions.”

Michelle says Animal Rising has identified a sanctuary where Luna could potentially be taken, but claims its approach to the farmer has received no response.

“We have a sanctuary place for Luna and we wrote to the farmer and had no response.”

For Michelle, the three-week experience in the crate was intended to make people think about what life is like for animals subjected to confinement.

She said she has watched thousands of hours of footage relating to factory farming during her work with Animal Rising.

“It is time people see the reality of factory farming.”

Whatever people’s views on factory farming or animal rights activism, spending 21 days and nights inside a crate is an extraordinary commitment.

Michelle deliberately put herself through an experience that she says was designed to give people a glimpse of the confinement experienced by animals.

She has now walked out.

For the animals at the centre of her campaign, there is no such choice.

And that is what makes Michelle’s action so striking.

Imagine being unable to leave the space you are in.

Imagine spending 21 days there.

Imagine not knowing when, or if, you would ever be able to walk away.

Michelle has used her own experience to draw attention to what she believes are the horrific realities of factory farming and to ask the public to look more closely at how animals are kept.

It is difficult to imagine willingly spending three weeks locked inside a crate.

Michelle chose to do exactly that to highlight the issue.

And for those who care about animal welfare, her determination to remain there for 21 days and nights deserves recognition for shining a spotlight on a subject that many people may never otherwise see.

The campaign has received what Animal Rising describes as widespread public support, while a petition calling for Luna to be released is approaching 30,000 signatures.

But Michelle says leaving the crate herself is not the end of the campaign.

In her statement following the action, she said:

“Today, after 21 days and nights, I get to walk out of this crate. But 200,000 mother pigs in the UK are confined in farrowing crates every year, and they have no choice about entering or leaving.”

She added that while she could walk away from the crate, the pigs could not.

“That is why this cannot end with me leaving Trafalgar Square.”

Animal Rising is now calling on the Government to develop a plan to move away from what it describes as a factory farming system and towards what it says would be a more sustainable food system.

The organisation’s campaign is likely to continue, with further investigations and public actions expected.

For Michelle, however, the message behind the 21-day challenge remains centred on one pig.

Luna.

And the thousands of other animals Animal Rising says continue to live in intensive farming systems across the UK.

Please note this video contains distressing footage.