[PAA-Discuss] Giving Farmed-Animal Abusers Their Due

[robert]

This is bs...why the workers were targeted?  Why didn't they go after the
corporations that hired them....this is just like blaming the soldier who
tortures the innocent victim and over looking the real criminals who gave
the orders (Rumsfield/Bush/Cheney now O Bomb a).  Factory Farms are the real
criminals not the poor sap that gets paid $7.00/hr to do the killing.  That
is just my opinion.  Shame on PETA.  A society that allows/values the
wholesale murdering of animals is a good for nothing society.

 

  _____  

From: discuss-bounces at paa-tx.org [mailto:discuss-bounces at paa-tx.org] On
Behalf Of Ron and Kris Graham
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2009 10:18 AM
To: 'PAA Discussion List'
Subject: [PAA-Discuss] Giving Farmed-Animal Abusers Their Due

 

Personally, I think assholes that abuse animals ought to be beaten to a
bloody pulp, but that's just me. I'm glad these fuckers have been caught,
fined and jailed. What perverted, worthless sacks of shit! Thank goodness
for PETA. A society that tolerates the abuse of innocent animals is a good
for nothing society. 

 

Kris

 

Published on Thursday, July 16, 2009 by CommonDreams.org

Giving Farmed-Animal Abusers Their Due

by Dan Paden

With so many high-profile stories in the news lately-the passing of Michael
Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, the Gov. Sanford scandal, post-election protests
in Iran-you may not have heard about the historic victories for animals that
are taking place in American courtrooms. It's worth noting that two of
PETA's undercover investigations of factory farms have just resulted in
groundbreaking animal abuse convictions-convictions that are both highly
significant and long overdue. All too often, the abuse of animals in the
meat industry is shrugged off as just the cost of doing business.

In a landmark case, two former Aviagen Turkeys, Inc., workers were convicted
of cruelty to animals after they were indicted on charges stemming from
PETA's fall 2008 undercover investigation of the company's West Virginia
turkey farms. PETA's investigator caught workers at the farms punching
birds, mimicking the rape of a hen and more. Following our investigation, a
grand jury indicted three workers on cruelty-to-animals charges, most of
which were felony offenses-marking the first time in U.S. history that
former factory-farm workers faced felony charges for abusing birds.

One of the three men admitted to shoving feed down a turkey's throat and
maliciously breaking a turkey's neck and was sentenced to a 12-month jail
term. This is the maximum punishment permitted by law and the strongest
penalty ever levied against an individual for cruelty to an animal raised
for food in the U.S.

Another former Aviagen employee, who pleaded guilty to stomping on a
turkey's head and slamming a turkey to the ground, was sentenced to two
consecutive six-month stays of home confinement. Perhaps more importantly,
he is prohibited from owning, living with or working with any animals for
five years. 

The third case is still pending, but another grand jury is expected to issue
additional felony indictments against the individual.

Although abuse is all too common on factory farms, it has been nearly 13
years since the first and only other conviction of a "poultry" farmer for
cruelty to animals in this country.

Fortunately, the courts have been taking animal abuse cases more seriously
lately. Just days before the ex-Aviagen employees were convicted of cruelty
to birds, four former employees of an Iowa pig farm were punished for
abusing pigs. Undercover investigators from PETA caught workers beating
pigs, kicking them, spraying paint into their nostrils, sexually abusing one
with a cane, electro-shocking pregnant sows and slamming piglets to the
ground.

Three of the men have each been sentenced to two years in prison (although
the sentences were suspended), and all were fined and ordered to pay court
costs; one man owes more than $3,000. Three of the men also have been
prohibited from owning or working with any animal for up to two years while
on probation. In January, another of the workers became the first person
ever to be convicted of abusing or neglecting factory-farmed pigs in Iowa,
the nation's top pork-producing state. He is currently serving six months'
probation and is not allowed to have contact with animals.

It's important for consumers to know that although PETA's undercover
investigations routinely document gratuitous abuse, much of the cruelty on
factory farms is standard practice. Pregnant pigs are confined to metal
gestation crates so small that they can't turn around. Chickens are bred and
drugged to grow so large so quickly that many become crippled under their
own weight. Cows are crammed together by the thousands on feces- and
mud-filled feedlots. The best way to stop this suffering is to stop eating
animals.

And here's a warning for workers in the meat industry: PETA's investigators
(and the whistleblowers who tip us off) will continue to watch for animal
abusers. During the hog farm investigation, one of the convicted workers,
who slammed a pig on the back with a gate rod twice, causing her to scream,
assured PETA's investigator that it was OK to hurt the pigs because "no one
from PETA" was watching. How wrong he was.

Dan Paden is a senior research associate in People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals' Cruelty Investigations Department, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA
23510; www.PETA.org <http://www.peta.org/>  [1].

  _____  

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/16-4

 

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