Video Sparks Inquiry Into Apparent Chicken Abuse

A West Virginia prosecutor ordered an investigation Tuesday of a slaughterhouse that provided poultry to KFC, after an animal rights activist produced a video showing workers stomping on live chickens and hurling them into walls.

Excerpts from the murky black-and-white video -- released online by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- appear to show workers slamming and kicking birds in the dimly lighted “hanging cage,” where chickens are snapped into shackles and hung upside down by their legs to prepare them for slaughter.

“If what they’re alleging is true, I do believe it’s a violation of West Virginia law,” said Lucas See, the prosecuting attorney for Hardy County, who saw the excerpts online.

The state’s animal cruelty statute was toughened last year to make it a felony -- punishable by at least a year in jail and a $1,000 fine -- to “torture or maliciously kill” an animal. Even though the birds in question were headed for the kill floor, “I don’t think that’s any defense,” See said. “They still should be killed humanely.”

The video reportedly was taken by an undercover PETA activist who worked at a Pilgrim’s Pride plant in Moorefield, W. Va., from October 2003 to May 2004. In an accompanying report, the activist described witnessing abuses almost daily: Workers allegedly smashed live birds against a metal rail to decapitate them, punted them like footballs, sprayed them in the eyes with aerosol paint and dumped injured birds in a trash bin to die.

Pilgrim’s Pride and KFC issued statements Tuesday declaring the abuses appalling.

“The practices portrayed in this video are not in any way condoned by management and are not routine, normal, ongoing incidents,” said Ray Atkinson, spokesman for Pilgrim’s Pride, which processes 30 million birds a week in plants in the U.S. and Mexico.

The company has suspended one employee without pay and is investigating three others.

O.B. Goolsby Jr., president and chief operating officer, said any employee involved in abusive behavior would be fired. He directed managers at all 26 Pilgrim’s Pride plants to review animal welfare policies with all workers. Employees who handle live animals will be required to sign documents indicating that they understand humane practices.

KFC announced it would not buy meat from the Moorefield plant until Pilgrim’s Pride could “definitively assure us that there are absolutely no abuses taking place,” spokeswoman Bonnie Warschauer said. KFC has sent its own inspector to watch the slaughter line.

By law, inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture must be on site during every shift at all slaughterhouses. At plants that process cattle, hogs, sheep and horses, the inspectors have two roles: They must verify that the meat is safe to eat. They must also ensure the livestock are killed humanely, which generally means the animals must be rendered unconscious before their throats are slit.

But the federal Humane Slaughter Act exempts poultry. So at poultry plants, USDA inspectors are responsible only for verifying food safety.

Most states have their own humane slaughter laws. Only three -- California, Utah and North Dakota -- protect poultry, according to Mariann Sullivan, a lawyer who writes about livestock law in a new book called “Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions.”

Laws prohibiting animal cruelty usually cover all animals, including fowl. But most states exempt “customary agricultural practices” from prosecution. And activists have had little luck persuading prosecutors to file abuse charges against farm and slaughterhouse workers, even when they’re caught on tape beating birds.

“I hope this video will prompt prosecutors to take farm animal cruelty more seriously,” said Paul Shapiro, founder of the animal rights group Compassion Over Killing.