'It has been very poorly handled': Municipal researcher calls mayor's pig issue highly problematic

Tønders Mayor has been reported to the police eight times for violating the law on his farm.

This is problematic, according to municipal researcher Roger Buch, after it was revealed that the mayor of Tønder, Jørgen Popp Petersen, has been reported to the police eight times due to problematic conditions on his pig farm.

"It's very unusual for a mayor to suddenly find themselves in such serious problems just before an election. It's obviously problematic when it happens now," says Roger Buch from the Danish School of Media and Journalism.

In the period from 2019 to 2024, the Danish Food Authority has found conditions on the farm so serious that the authority has chosen the harshest possible sanction – namely to report Jørgen Popp Petersen, who is the mayor for the Slesvig Party, to the police.

A video, which TV2 has access to (), shows among other things a pig with cold ears, according to a veterinarian that TV2 has spoken to. Another video shows dead pigs, which are lying freely outside a barn. Neither DR nor TV2 know what the police reports concern.

DR has been in Tønder to speak to the residents about the matter. One of them is Bjarne Hansen. He calls the matter surprising and not good:

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Sag is a 'great challenge'

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Even though Jørgen Popp Petersen has not been convicted, and the police are still handling the reports, the matter is "a great challenge" for the mayor's election campaign, according to Roger Buch. First and foremost, Jørgen Popp Petersen must fight to be allowed to run again for the Slesvig Party.

The Slesvig Party is holding a meeting on Sunday for the executive committee, where Jørgen Popp Petersen will also participate.

If the party chooses to keep him as the mayoral candidate, it will be the voters for the municipal election on November 18 who will determine whether he will have the opportunity to wear the mayor's chain again.

Lis Schiebel Quistgaard lives in Tønder. She thinks the matter is grotesque:

Even though Roger Buch does not dare to predict what will happen on Sunday or until November, there are several things that surprise him.

- The police reports are not new, and it is over many years that there have been eight reports. Why has a mayor, who the media are interested in, not managed to get things under control before, wonders the municipal researcher.

At the same time, Roger Buch evaluates that the mayor has tried to justify the matters by saying that it was employees and not him who carried out the daily work with the pigs, which Roger Buch calls a problematic defense.

- It's a really bad handling, says Roger Buch.

Marinus Jensen from Møgeltønder thinks that Jørgen Popp Petersen is a good mayor. Therefore, he does not rule out voting for him in the municipal election:

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Mayor: It's unsatisfying

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Jørgen Popp Petersen, who now plans to close his pig farm down, says himself that eight police reports are eight too many.

- It's unsatisfying, and it's really tiring. It's something I'm good and tired of – and it's not something I first got tired of today, where you visit me, he says.

He tells that there has been action taken every time there has been a police report, but also says that complaints have been filed after several of the reports because people have been "strongly opposed" to the Danish Food Authority's assessment.

Why can't you take better care of your animals?

- It's a justified question. Practically, it is so that I am not myself in the position. It is very early in the morning when I have a few tasks that do not have anything to do with animal care.

- But in the end, it is my responsibility. I can't run away from it. That's also the case, even though I have employees, says Jørgen Popp Petersen.

The first report is from 2019. Why haven't you intervened and fixed things before?

- We have tried every time. Every time we have had visits, the employees have been very affected by it and have complained that it has been a problem. And we have tried to work on it.

Jørgen Popp Petersen is the mayor of Tønder Municipality. He is also the owner of a pig farm. (Photo: © Jacob Schultz, Jyskfynskemedier/Ritzau Scanpix)

How can one have a mayor where there is uncertainty about whether he is staying within the law's framework?

- The police are still handling the matter, and so we will see how it turns out. Of course, a mayor must also abide by the law. If a mayor does not abide by the law, there are consequences like anything else. It's clear.

- Fortunately, there is not much time left until the election, and so it will be tested whether the voters have confidence in the undersigned, says the mayor from Tønder.

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