Following a recent 10-week undercover investigation of Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Heflin by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the group has released a report charging mistreatment of chickens. According to a press release issued last week from PETA, their investigation “revealed that workers were ripping conscious chickens’ heads off, that slaughter machinery was systematically mutilating chickens and that thousands of birds were entering the scalding tank completely conscious and being scaled to death.” Their reports quotes world-renowned animal-husbandry consultant Dr. Temple Gradin stating of the findings, “If I had been doing a welfare audit, this plant would have failed. Live birds were observed entering the scalder. This is a total failure on animal welfare.” PETA says they have repeatedly urged Tyson to implement a new U.S. Department of Agriculture approved slaughter technology called controlled-atmosphere killing which would have prevented the suffering that PETA’s investigator says was encountered. “Tyson has been claiming that it treats chickens well, but in fact, the company is scalding them to death, mutilating them and ripping their heads off as they hang, in agony, by their injured legs,” said PETA Vegan Campaign Director Bruce Friedrich. “Chickens are as intelligent and worthy of our concern as any dog or cat - but what Tyson is doing to more than two billion chickens every year would put its executives in jail if they abused dogs or cats so egregiously.” In a news conference PETA Campaign Coordinator Joe Hinkle said, “Even as PETA was being assured by executives at Tyson’s annual meeting that the company takes animal welfare seiously, a PETA investigator as inside one of Tyson’s slaugher facilities. From December of 2004 through February of 2005, a PETA undercover investigator worked on the slaughter line of a Tyson chicken slaughterhouse in Heflin, Alabama. “Using a hidden camera, he documented the treatment of the more than 100,000 chickens killed every day in the plant. Any decent person would be horrified by what he saw.” PETA says their investigation and video shows chickens being decapitated, mutilated while fully conscious and scalded alive. They cite a “Mission Statement” signed by Tyson Foods CEO John Tyson which states the processor is “committed to the well-being, proper handling, and humane slaughter of all the animals that are used in our food products” and that all “Tyson Team Members, as well as our poultry growers and beef and pork suppliers, are expected to respect and serve as stewards of the animals we work with every day, treating them in a proper manner at all times.” PETA says, “Clearly, the company’s actual commitment to animal welfare has yet to catch up with its public relations spin.” PETA is urging Tyson to adopt controlled-atmosphere killing of chickens. PETA notes, “Controlled-atmosphere killing not only ensures that birds are painlessly put to sleep before they reach the slaughter line where this cruelty was documented, but also results in improved carcass quality and increased profits.” Quoting Dr. Temple Gradin, Associate Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, Colorado State University, PETA released his statment concerning the Heflin facility. “Live birds were observed entering the scalder. This is a total failure on animal welfare. Allowing 40 birds per day to enter the scalder alive is not acceptable. This is a sloppy operation.” Dr. A.B.M. Raj, B.V.Sc., M.V.Sc. Ph.D. School of Clinical Veterinary Science, Division of Farm Animal Science, University of Bristol was also quoted as saying, “Evidently, due to the lack of appropraite (legislation) to protect the welfare of birds at slaughter, people seem to get away with cruel and unethical practicess.” And Dr. Laurie Siperstein-Cook, D.V.M., Avian Veterinarian, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California at Davis was quoted that the investigation “demonstrates egregious failings on the part of the design, staffing and training at this slaughterhouse. . . clearly demonstrates lapses in this facility.”
In response to their findings PETA has lauched a website: www.torturebytyson.com to alert the public to their findings and continue their efforts to have Tyson adopt new U.S. Department of Agriculture approved slaughter technology.
About Wayne Ruple
Cleburne News editor Wayne Ruple is a native of Ashville. Before coming to Heflin, he worked for three years as a computer systems manager in Birmingham. Ruple has worked for The Sand Mountain Reporter in Albertville, and was the editor of The Independent in Robertsdale. He has also worked for the Shades Valley Sun, the St. Clair News-Aegis and The Daily Home in Talladega.
