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A formal investigation has been launched against Elite Farm Services Ltd. in Chilliwack after a shocking undercover video was made public.
The video shows multiple workers, including a supervisor, abusing and torturing broiler chickens.
WARNING: This video contains graphic images of animal abuse. Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
Elite, a licensed chicken-catching service, was hired to round up the chicks and transport them to Lilydale/Sofina Foods Inc. in Port Coquitlam to be slaughtered.
Non-profit group, Mercy for Animals, filmed the video between May 10th and June 9th and it documents numerous acts of animal cruelty, as well as gross noncompliance with federal and provincial laws, regulations and guidelines.
According to the group, the full compilation of videos show that the workers were doing the following to the live chickens.
- Workers hitting, kicking, and throwing birds and smashing them into walls and transport crates
- Birds crushed by transport machinery and having their legs ripped off by careless workers
- Management standing by while workers torment animals with crude sex acts and rough handling
- Severely sick and injured birds bred to grow too large to walk without pain left to languish and die
“The images in this video are absolutely sickening and the individual employees and the companies involved need to be held accountable,” said Marcie Moriarty, chief prevention and enforcement officer for the BC SPCA. “The video includes some of the most brutal and sadistic acts of violence against animals I have ever seen, it’s extremely difficult to watch.”
The BC SPCA received the video from Mercy for Animals on Friday and launched the investigation immediately.
Moriarty said that the BC SPCA will be putting together a Crown counsel as soon as possible and recommending multiple charges.
They’re also calling for the B.C. poultry industry to take immediate action, which should include suspending the workers involved, suspending contracts to Elite Farms Services and reviewing the industry’s monitoring systems province wide.
These are similar to the actions that were taken two years ago by the dairy industry when a Mercy for Animals video uncovered the abuse of dairy cows in Chilliwack.
In that case, a BC SPCA investigation led to charges of animal cruelty against the individuals and company involved, as well as widespread industry changes.
“In that case the BC SPCA also worked with the provincial government to have the Code of Practice for Dairy Cattle adopted into a new regulation, so that the ‘generally accepted practices’ outlined in the code became clearly entrenched in the law,” says Moriarty. “We will pursue a similar path with government moving forward with the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Hatching Eggs, Breeders, Chickens and Turkeys.”
If convicted, the individuals and companies involved in this latest investigation face a fine of up to $75,000, a maximum five-year jail sentence and up to a lifetime ban from owning or being around animals.
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