This week, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a complaint with the Suffolk Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, calling for an investigation of what it says were violations of Virginia’s animal cruelty laws.

Dan Paden, a researcher with the Norfolk-based animal rights organization, filed the request on behalf of PETA. The complaint says that after a pig transport truck overturned in Suffolk on Sept. 8, workers trying to round up the surviving pigs pulled them by the ears and struck them in the face, head and side with boards, paddles and their hands. The complaint calls for an investigation into the incident and prosecution of anybody who is found to have disobeyed the law.

We must agree that pulling pigs (or any animals, for that matter) by their ears and striking them with hands and objects is in clear violation of the law regarding cruelty to animals. Whether or not people committed these offenses to those pigs, however, remains to be seen, and the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office should make certain it conducts a thorough investigation of the incident. The welfare of thousands more pigs that will be transported through Suffolk depends upon it.