Turkey farm video shows gaping h

Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

Turkey farm video shows ‘gaping hole’ in government animal welfare oversight

March 14, 2014 CBC News

Hidden camera footage, secretly recorded at an Ontario turkey breeding farm, is raising troubling questions about the lack of government oversight of animal welfare standards. The footage, shot by a member of the group Mercy for Animals Canada who got a job with the farm, was shared with CBC Marketplace. It appears to show birds with large open wounds, an employee advising the undercover worker to kick birds and failed euthanizations.

One euthanization caught on tape shows an employee hitting a bird repeatedly with several objects, including a shovel, over the course of several minutes after an initial attempt to use an authorized tool failed. “This was the worst abuse I’ve ever seen inflicted on an animal,” the undercover worker who shot the footage told Marketplace co-host Erica Johnson.

“The birds are not being properly monitored,” said Ian Duncan, an animal welfare expert with the University of Guelph. The full investigation, The Trouble with Turkeys, airs Friday at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NL) on CBC Television.

Hybrid Turkeys, a breeding company based in Kitchener, Ont., owns and operates the barn where the footage was filmed. Birds from Hybrid’s genetic stock make up 90 percent of the turkey eaten in Canada. Hybrid is the world’s largest primary turkey breeder; the birds in Hybrid barns are the grandparents, great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents of the turkeys raised on commercial farms.

Company says problems were ‘isolated incident’

While most of the birds in the barn appear healthy, the video reveals some disturbing images.

Hybrid Turkeys responded to the allegations detailed in the Marketplace investigation by suspending four employees who appear in the footage, including a supervisor, and launching an investigation. They say that the behaviour captured on video is not indicative of the way they operate and stand by the care and treatment of their birds.

“As soon as we had evidence that this was going on in the barn, we took immediate action and we suspended the employees that were involved, because they were not adhering to our welfare practices, and zero tolerance for us means zero tolerance,” said Helen Wojcinski, a spokesperson for Hybrid Turkeys. “We feel this is an isolated incident,” she said. “Employees have been trained. They know what they're supposed to do. There is obviously a lapse. There's been a mistake made here.”

Mercy for Animals Canada has also filed a complaint with the Ontario Provincial Police, which has launched a criminal investigation. The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) is also investigating.

‘Gaping hole in the system’

Cruelty to animals is an offence under the Criminal Code of Canada, but much of the enforcement of animal welfare standards is handled provincially. In most provinces, enforcement powers are handled by provincial societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals.

However, Geoff Urton with the B.C. SPCA said that the current complaint-based system doesn’t adequately protect farm animals. “There’s a gaping hole in the system with regard to monitoring and inspection of these farms across Canada,” said Urton. “There’s not much being done right now and it’s a major concern.”

“SPCAs in Canada who do animal cruelty law enforcement, we have an inspection mandate for farms in Canada so we would respond to complaints as they come in,” he said. “But generally, that would take a whistleblower to come forward, and actual animal cruelty complaints.”

Urton said that the government should be doing more to make sure animal welfare standards across Canada are being met. “Ultimately, there should be some kind of proactive inspection and monitoring compliance system in Canada. Otherwise, how can anybody know how these animals are being treated?”

The lack of proactive inspections, and the complaints-driven enforcement in place in most provinces, have made undercover evidence-gathering a common tool for animal rights activists. In the U.S., similar investigations have prompted several anti-whistleblower “ag-gag” laws that make it illegal to photograph or videotape on farms without consent. Idaho just passed similar controversial legislation at the end of February.

(Aug. 4, 2015 update: A judge in the federal District Court for Idaho ruled the "ag-gag" law unconstitutional, citing first Amendment protections for free speech.)

Limits of welfare labels

Certification programs that assure consumers of good animal welfare practices are growing in popularity. A 2009 Harris Decima poll commissioned by the Vancouver Humane Society found that 72 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they were willing to pay more for meat that was certified humane.

The limits of complaints-based enforcement prompted the B.C. SPCA to create its own certification program for farm animals. The SPCA Certified labels can be found on meat raised under the program. But for consumers who are looking to labels to help them buy humanely raised meat, there is only so much that existing label programs can guarantee.

The B.C. SPCA program and Whole Foods’ Global Animal Partnership label hold farms to high animal welfare standards, tracking compliance with third-party audits. However, neither program looks at how the farms that supply commercial farms treat their animals.

“We’re beginning to see … labels on products that assure you that this animal has lived a good life,” said Ian Duncan from the University of Guelph. “That obviously needs to go further back than the product that you’re buying. And it needs to say that not only has this bird had a good life, but the parents, the grandparents and maybe the great-grandparents [have also been treated well]. You know, there needs to be a line of assurance that goes all the way back,” he said.

“Because the general public, I think if they see something like this, they’re going to be absolutely horrified. Horrified that this is how their food is being produced.”

Farmed birds are actually EXCLUDED from the scant and inadequate welfare laws that exist. It is perfectly legal to do anything you want to a turkey, goose, duck or chicken. This is not food, it's violence.

Comment: Every time an undercover investigator randomly picks a commercial farm in Canada to investigate, shocking animal cruelty is found. Cruelty and abuse is standard industry practice. It is happening everywhere.

If everyone howled at every injustice, every act of barbarism, every act of unkindness, then we would be taking the first step towards a real humanity. Nelson DeMille, American author

Petitioning the National Farm Animal Care Council:

Jackie Wepruk, NFACC General Manager (nfacc@xplornet.com) I was horrified to see undercover footage from an Ontario factory farm that showed turkeys thrown, kicked, and beaten with shovels and metal rods, and others left to die from festering, bloody wounds. Something must be done to stop this needless cruelty. Turkeys are every bit as capable of experiencing pain and suffering as dogs and cats, and deserve the same protection from abuse. I am asking that you establish comprehensive codes of practice for turkey producers in order to ensure that: * all sick or injured birds are provided with immediate treatment, and if necessary, humane euthanasia by a qualified veterinarian; * the turkey industry immediately stops breeding turkeys to grow so quickly they become crippled under their own weight; and * video monitoring systems are installed in all facilities that handle farmed animals, and footage streamed live to the internet to prevent malicious animal abuse. As a civilized society it is our moral obligation to protect all animals, including turkeys, from needless cruelty and violence. Thank you for your time and attention.

March 24, 2014 Surge of Whistleblowers Confirms: Cruelty and Neglect the Norm at Hybrid Turkeys

Comment: This is a huge corporation concerned with its bottom line only. Profits at any cost. Such monstrous and blatant abuse of these defenceless birds should leave us all furious. Sadistic workers and managers who look the other way while denying such evil is an egregious example of inhumanity. We can knock powerful industry giants like Hybrid to the ground by opting for a plant-based diet. Don’t buy the lies! We must rail against bureaucrats, policy-makers, and the politicians who protect such immoral companies. Together we can make a new tomorrow.

July 3, 2014 Hybrid Turkeys faces 11 animal cruelty charges

Comment: This is the first time in Canadian history that an investigation by an animal rights group has resulted in cruelty charges. Let’s make sure there’s some justice for these poor birds. Animal cruelty is a despicable and cowardly crime. Sadly, in this day and age, all those beings exploited for food are offered little or no protections under current legislation, and as long as they are regarded as property, the punishment will be limited.

We can all work to change that. Whatever you do, don’t be silent! Silence enables oppression and abuse.

August 15, 2014 Animal cruelty case put over to November

Comment: Kurtis Andrews says in an application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act is unconstitutional. He argues the act breaches the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by "granting police powers to a private organization without due restraints, accountability and transparency."

August 25, 2015 update: A year after CBC's Marketplace first exposed the shocking treatment of birds at an Ontario turkey breeder, the case against the company for animal cruelty has ended in a guilty plea. After the Marketplace story aired, OSPCA laid 11 charges against both the company, Hybrid Turkeys, and individual employees.

"After a thorough investigation it was determined that the method of euthanasia was not humane," OSPCA spokesperson Alison Cross wrote in an email. The company was fined $5,600. Under the terms of the company's guilty plea, the remaining charges have been withdrawn, according to Cross. (Source: CBC News)

Comment: A perversion of justice yet again. As it’s been observed many times over, justice denied anywhere diminishes justice everywhere. Keeping the powerful, powerful, and the oppressed, oppressed.

Comment: Every single undercover video by groups such as Mercy for Animals, Glass Walls, Last Chance for Animals, PETA, and others, have exposed shocking and cruel treatment of animals exploited at the hands of the meat, egg and dairy industries. Thankfully, the public is waking up and recognizing that the idyllic portraits presented by animal agriculture industries are nothing more than attempts to maximize profits while concealing a gruesome reality. Animals categorized as pets would never be treated in the same manner as those raised for food.

The exploitation of animals is pervasive, entrenched, & horrific. We can all do something to stop it.

Lilydale faces charges for transporting chickens in freezing weather

Farm Animal Welfare Law in Canada

Animals on Farms in Canada - Animal Justice Many standard and “generally accepted” farm practices are exempt from provincial animal welfare laws, meaning that practices that would be illegal if done to a dog or cat are completely legal when done to a pig, cow, chicken, or other farmed animal.

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November 29, 2019 Draconian new Alberta law will further conceal animal abuse on farms. This provision may well violate the freedom of expression provisions guaranteed under section 2(b) the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is nearly identical to various state-level restrictions passed in the United States termed “ag gag” laws. They have been struck down in states like Iowa, Idaho, & Utah as unconstitutional.

December 3, 2019 Last week, the Alberta government (led by Premier Jason Kenney & his Conservative Party) passed Bill 27, the Trespass Statutes (Protecting Law-Abiding Property Owners) Amendment Act, which ups fines for individuals trespassing on farms to $10,000 for individuals & $200,000 for organizations. This allows the powerful animal agriculture industry to keep operations secret, hidden behind closed doors. Camille Labchuk, lawyer and Executive Director of Animal Justice, is considering options to challenge any unconstitutional provisions in court.

In Ontario, Animal Justice is working to have the proposed legislation struck down before it is passed. The Security from Trespass & Protecting Food Safety Act was introduced yesterday by the Conservative Party, with the intent of stopping activists and whistleblowers from exposing abuses in slaughterhouses, during transport, and on farms.

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