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Behind the scenes of the fight for the protection of animals and workers and the preservation of the environment - my experiences as a Tyson slaughterhouse hanger/killer turned activist. Exposing the evils of factory farming, by Virgil Butler. If you have arrived here looking for the Tyson stories, view the early archives. Some of them are now featured on the sidebar for easy searching.

Monday, September 01, 2003

Shame on Chicken Factory Farm 

I just read an article in the Sunday Mirror (UK).

Quote:

Desperate Birds Peck at Carcasses
as Thousands Struggle to Survive

Some birds are so lame and deformed
they can only drag themselves to the
food and water troughs by their wings.
Others stand motionless, too dazed or
dying to move. There are more than
36,000 chickens here in huge windowless
sheds. The conditions they have to
endure during their short, brutal lives
are so horrific it defies belief. Today the
Sunday Mirror reveals the sickening
reality of one factory farm which lies
hidden beneath the cheerful image of
the KFC fast-food chain, with its slogans
"Finger Lickin' Good" and "Nobody Does
Chicken Like KFC".

Undercover investigators went behind
the scenes at Wrawby Farm, near
Scunthorpe, North Lincs. Its owners,
P D Hook (Broilers) Ltd, are contracted
by Premier Fresh Foods, part of the huge
2 Sisters Food Group, to supply chickens
that end up at KFC outlets and stores
such as Tesco and Kwik Save. KFC were
so impressed by 2 Sisters' service that
they made them their Supplier Of The Year
in 2001. And 2 Sisters, who have an annual
turnover of £50million, even boast of
receiving RSPCA awards for their
"outstanding contribution to animal welfare".

But our investigation at Wrawby Farm
painted a different picture - one of cruelty
and neglect. In one shed where chickens
had been taken away for slaughter there
were dozens of carcasses littering the floor.
In another - where scores of birds had
died - their remains were being picked
over by other chickens.


It sounds like things are no different over
there than they are over here. Here's more:

Our findings come just weeks after animal
rights group People For the Ethical Treatment
Of Animals (PETA) announced they would be
suing KFC in the USA. PETA claims the
company's advertising hides "grotesque
abuses inflicted upon chickens by suppliers".
PETA's Director of European Campaigns Sean
Gifford said: "KFC has said from the outset
that they will not allow the animals to feel any
pain... in fact every moment of these animals'
lives is characterised by unmitigated misery.

"People need to understand that if they are
eating chicken, they're supporting cruelty to
animals and if they're eating at KFC, they're
supporting a company that has done nothing
to prevent the worst abuses of chickens on
the farm, during transport and at slaughter."

In the US, PETA researchers found birds
destined for KFC meals grew to full weight -
4lb 8oz - in only 41 days instead of the natural
five or six months. As a result, their heart and
lungs came under such pressure that many
died from organ failure. These chickens are
raised in huge sheds where there is initially
plenty of room, but as they grow, conditions
become crowded.

PETA has also demanded that chickens
should be killed by gassing rather than
electric stunning.

Last night Hillside Animal Sanctuary echoed
PETA's concerns and called on the Government
to take urgent action. A spokesman said:
"The scenes of appalling neglect we witnessed
in these sheds were abhorrently cruel.

"As a supplier to such major supermarkets
and food retailers you would expect these
farms to be setting the highest welfare standards -
but this farm is like something from the Dark Ages.

"We would ask the relevant Government
department to take immediate action to put
an end to this cruelty. Factory farming is simply
about producing the largest amount of animals
in the shortest amount of time with animal
welfare unimportant
."


I agree totally.

"The world we have created is a product of our
thinking; it cannot be changed without changing
our thinking"--Albert Einstein

“Until he extends the circle of compassion to
all living things, man will not himself find peace.”
------Albert Schweitzer

"The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not
to hate them, but to be indifferent to them:
that's the essense of inhumanity."
-- George Bernard Shaw

Wake up people! It is time to demand change
in this industry. You vote with your dollars.
The only way to stop this is to stop giving our
money to those businesses with policies we
don't agree with. KFC must make more money
doing business humanely than to "do chicken right."

Because I believe they do chicken wrong.

Very wrong.





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