Undercover video shows turkey abuse at major poultry plant

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[http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/dining/19peta.html]

 

Group Documents Cruelty to Turkeys

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.

The New York Times

November 19, 2008

 

 

In what is becoming an annual Thanksgiving rite, an animal rights group

on Tuesday released undercover videotapes taken at the nation's premier

poultry-breeding operation, showing turkeys being stomped to death and

punched by workers.

 

The group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, known as PETA,

is asking for prosecution of workers at the Aviagen Turkeys plant in

Lewisburg, W.Va., in a complaint filed with the local sheriff's office

under state laws regarding cruelty to animals.

 

Aviagen, which has its headquarters in Germany and describes itself as

" the world's leading poultry-breeding company, " supplies most of the

turkey breeding stock in the United States. After seeing the video

Tuesday, company representatives said they " condemn the abuse of any of

the animals in our care and will take swift action to address these

issues. " They promised an investigation that could lead to the employees

being fired.

 

Although PETA has had little luck in the past getting prosecutors to

file charges against meatpacking workers, it has successfully taken

undercover videotapes in many slaughterhouses. The resulting bad

publicity has pushed some companies to change killing methods, retrain

employees and promise to treat animals better before slaughter.

 

In 2004, PETA tapes of workers tearing the windpipes out of live cattle

drew national attention to the Postville, Iowa, slaughterhouse of the

nation's largest kosher meatpacker, Agriprocessors

(http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/national/01kosher.html?pagewanted=pri

nt). The plant was raided last May and its owners charged with hiring

hundreds of illegal workers. A kosher meat shortage ensued;

Agriprocessors filed for bankruptcy this month.

 

Each November, PETA tries to persuade Americans not to eat turkey.

 

Sometimes it uses publicity stunts, such as young women in bikinis

handing out tofu turkeys or a presidential imitator " pardoning " the

nation's flocks. Sometimes it highlights the grim conditions in

industrial poultry operations.

 

The Aviagen video can be seen at http://www.peta.org. The scenes show

stomach-turning brutality. Workers are seen smashing birds into loading

cages like basketballs, stomping heads and breaking necks, apparently

for fun, even pretending to rape one.

 

On the tape, one worker describes losing his temper at a tom who pecked

him, marking its head with a pen so he could find it again, fetching a

broomstick, ramming it down the bird's gullet and holding it up in the

air while shouting " Let this be a lesson to y'all " at the rest of the

flock.

 

His supervisor later excuses such behavior by saying, " Every once and a

while, everybody gets agitated and has to kill a bird. " Noting that only

two of his crew " really like to do it, " he says they are otherwise

steady workers and adds: " As long as they don't do it a lot, I don't

really say too much about it. "

 

PETA's undercover investigator, speaking in a telephone interview on

Monday after he had quit his job on the plant vaccination team and moved

away from the area, said he thought his co-workers did it out of

boredom, for fun and because they lost their tempers.

 

Lesley J. Rogers, founder of the neuroscience and animal behavior center

at the University of New England in Australia, was one of four

zoologists shown the tapes last week. She found them " very disturbing "

and full of behavior that was " totally inconsistent with accepted

standards of treating poultry and looks to me like malicious infliction

of pain and suffering. "

 

Bernard E. Rollin, a professor of animal sciences at Colorado State

University, said the workers' actions were " totally unacceptable " and

suggested that they be removed from working with animals and prosecuted.

 

 

 

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

 

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[http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Turkey-Farm-Abuse.html]

 

Animal Rights Video Shows Turkey Abuse in W.Va.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

November 19, 2008

Filed at 11:02 a.m. ET

 

 

LEWISBURG, W.Va. (AP) -- A video released by an animal rights group on

Tuesday claims to show horrific abuse of turkeys at West Virginia farms

operated by major global poultry grower Aviagen Inc.

 

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the video, which

includes workers stomping on turkeys' heads and twisting their necks to

kill them, was shot by an undercover investigator who worked on the

companies' farms for more than two months.

 

The undercover worker, who was not identified, described stifling, dusty

barns where the animals were kept and caught video of several workers

killing turkeys, slamming them into metal cages and bragging about

previous abuse of the animals.

 

A company official told The New York Times that they " condemn the abuse

of any of the animals in our care and will take swift action to address

these issues. " They said they would investigate the allegations, which

could lead to firing employees who were involved.

 

A call Wednesday morning to the Alabama headquarters of Aviagen North

America was not immediately returned. A call to subsidiary Aviagen

Turkeys Inc., in Lewisburg, W.Va., also was not immediately returned.

 

PETA filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday alleging animal cruelty,

according to the Greenbrier County Sheriff's Department.

 

In West Virginia, felony animal cruelty can be punished by one to three

years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

 

Norfolk, Va.-based PETA campaigns most years against the practices of

turkey growers before Thanksgiving and encourages Americans to find

vegetarian substitutes for the bird, such as tofu. The video showing the

turkey abuse was posted on PETA's Web site.

 

In 2004, PETA carried out a similar undercover video sting in West

Virginia against Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride at the company's Moorefield

plant.

(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/22/national/main631134.shtml)

 

The company fired 11 employees and provided animal cruelty training

throughout its North American operations after that, but a Hardy County

grand jury in 2005 refused to indict any of the workers involved.

 

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PETA: http://www.peta.org/

Aviagen Group: http://www.aviagen.com/

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press