In Pennsylvania, eleven employees of a major US turkey manufacturer were charged with animal cruelty after state police claimed they were seen on film beating, kicking, and stomping on birds at different farms.
The Pennsylvania State Police reported on Thursday that the workers were in charge of capturing and crate-making poultry intended for slaughter (local time).
In August 2021, state police opened an investigation after receiving a complaint from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
The animal rights group said it sent an undercover investigator to Plainville Farms to evaluate the marketing claims of a third-party labelling program that had designated Plainville as “animal welfare certified. ”
The PETA investigator worked on a Plainville Farms crew for about three weeks and captured a graphic video that appeared to show workers mistreating the birds.
“Every night, at every farm the crews worked at, these men threw turkeys, viciously kicked and stomped on them, and killed them in the most rampant, top-to-bottom display of cruelty to farmed animals we’ve ever seen,” Dan Paden, a PETA vice president, said in a phone interview.
The video appeared to show dead turkeys and injured turkeys writhing on the floor.
The PETA investigator did not take part in the abuse – gently herding the birds instead – and was berated for taking too long.
“He was told repeatedly, ‘There’s not time for that, and if that’s how you’re going to do this, you need to find a different job,'” Paden said.
A total of 139 charges were filed, including six felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and 76 misdemeanour counts of animal cruelty.
Plainville continues to advertise its turkeys as “humanely raised” in a “stress-free environment.
CEO Matt Goodson of the business claimed that the company sacked the abuse-related employees and started deploying body and stationary cameras to apprehend the offenders.
According to WATT PoultryUSA, Plainville employs roughly 600 people and butchered about 40 million live kilogrammes of turkey in 2017.
US turkey farmers accused of cruelty to animals
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