You may have seen one of the latest horrors of animal abuse coming out of factory farms. Factory workers crushing heads with their feet, slamming the birds against wall and general psychotic behavior left unchecked and
unmanaged yet supported because people continue to buy and eat the results of this violence.
Well there has been a small victory for the animals.
Several of the abusers have been convicted and one has been jailed.
Late last year, some factory-farm employees got their pink slips from
Aviagen Turkeys, Inc. in response to
PETA's undercover investigation, which documented that workers were breaking turkeys' necks, stomping on their heads, and shoving feces and feed into turkeys' mouths.
Then, in February, a grand jury handed down 19 indictments, including 11 felony charges, against three former
Aviagen workers, marking the first time in U.S. history that factory-farm employees have faced felony cruelty-to-animals charges for abusing birds.
Fast forward: Two of the three ex-employees, Scott Alvin White and Edward Eric
Gwinn, recently pleaded guilty to cruelty charges. On June 8, White was sentenced to serve one year in jail—the maximum period permitted by law! Today,
Gwinn was sentenced to serve six months' home confinement—the maximum period permitted by law—on each count, concurrently, and is banned from living with, owning, and working with animals for five years. The case against the third ex-employee, Walter Lee
Hambrick, is pending.
Can't get enough? In September, a grand jury in neighboring Monroe County, West Virginia, may well issue further felony indictments against White and
Hambrick.
These historic victories by no means even the score for the turkeys who were punched and thrown or the many other birds who suffered when they were forced to watch as other turkeys were abused at
Aviagen. After watching our undercover video, animal behavior expert Dr. Lesley J. Rogers stated, "It is now known that when social animals, like turkeys, see and hear other members of their species under stress or suffering physical injury, their levels of stress become elevated. Hence, the behavioural stress is widespread in the birds in the vicinity of those that have been injured and/or handled roughly."
Let me tell you. None of the animals on these farms - commercial or otherwise, look like this:
That's my Jake who is the epitome of what you think a turkey looks like and what we "celebrate" at our holidays (by killing them).
No, the animals that are killed for you to eat look like this...
Use your dollars to show your support.
Boycott these companies - Butterball
(One worker told an investigator: "If you jump on their stomachs right, they'll pop ... or their insides will come out of their [rectums]," and other Butterball workers frequently bragged about kicking and tormenting birds.),
Aviagen, and more - or just consider cutting back on eating animals. It's a change that's good for you and makes a huge change for these defenseless animals.
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Article source hereButterballCruelty.comMeetYourMeat.com
