Turkeys abused at Ontario farm, animal rights group claims
By Maryam Shah ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Friday, March 14, 2014 10:58 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, March 14, 2014 07:20 PM EDT
TORONTO - An animal protection organization said it’s captured “horrific cruelty” with hidden cameras at a turkey farm near Kitchener.
Mercy For Animals Canada said one of its activists joined a farm owned by Hybrid Turkeys farm for eight weeks. Using a pinhole camera, the undercover worker secretly recorded alleged animal abuse at Canada’s largest turkey breeding company.
“We documented workers violently punching, throwing, kicking, and beating turkeys,” investigations director Twyla Francois alleged. “Workers painfully crushing the spines of turkeys, and bashing in their heads with metal rods and shovels. Turkeys with open pus-filled wounds, rotting eyes and festering infections were left to suffer without proper veterinary care, and birds bred to grow so fast that they were crippled under their own weight.”
Francois said they took the footage — shot between Dec. 2 last year and Feb. 2 — to law enforcement, sparking an investigation.
“We are urging that they lay charges against the workers that were videotaped maliciously beating turkeys with metal rods and shovel,” she said.
Ontario Provincial Police confirmed they are probing the matter, with a criminal investigator on the case. No charges have been laid.
Hybrid Turkeys said four employees, including a supervisor, were suspended with pay, pending further investigation.
A company statement called it an “isolated event” but insisted it “does not take this situation lightly.”
Helen Wojcinski, Hybrid Turkeys’ manager of science and sustainability, said the video shows a euthanasia method incorrectly applied, leading a worker to use force to kill a bird.
“Blunt force trauma is not something that we use within Hybrid,” she said.
While she said the video lacked context, she admitted there is “enough there that says our employees are not following our quality practice and they failed to report it.”
The company stressed it has zero tolerance for animal abuse and has recently introduced video-monitoring of all euthanasia.
But Mercy For Animals Canada — a non-profit group established in Canada two years ago — wants video surveillance extended to all facilities and live-streamed online.
“Cameras are only as effective as the person monitoring them,” Francois said.
WARNING: Graphic content
Turkeys abused at Ontario farm, animal rights group claims | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun
By Maryam Shah ,Toronto Sun
First posted: Friday, March 14, 2014 10:58 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, March 14, 2014 07:20 PM EDT
TORONTO - An animal protection organization said it’s captured “horrific cruelty” with hidden cameras at a turkey farm near Kitchener.
Mercy For Animals Canada said one of its activists joined a farm owned by Hybrid Turkeys farm for eight weeks. Using a pinhole camera, the undercover worker secretly recorded alleged animal abuse at Canada’s largest turkey breeding company.
“We documented workers violently punching, throwing, kicking, and beating turkeys,” investigations director Twyla Francois alleged. “Workers painfully crushing the spines of turkeys, and bashing in their heads with metal rods and shovels. Turkeys with open pus-filled wounds, rotting eyes and festering infections were left to suffer without proper veterinary care, and birds bred to grow so fast that they were crippled under their own weight.”
Francois said they took the footage — shot between Dec. 2 last year and Feb. 2 — to law enforcement, sparking an investigation.
“We are urging that they lay charges against the workers that were videotaped maliciously beating turkeys with metal rods and shovel,” she said.
Ontario Provincial Police confirmed they are probing the matter, with a criminal investigator on the case. No charges have been laid.
Hybrid Turkeys said four employees, including a supervisor, were suspended with pay, pending further investigation.
A company statement called it an “isolated event” but insisted it “does not take this situation lightly.”
Helen Wojcinski, Hybrid Turkeys’ manager of science and sustainability, said the video shows a euthanasia method incorrectly applied, leading a worker to use force to kill a bird.
“Blunt force trauma is not something that we use within Hybrid,” she said.
While she said the video lacked context, she admitted there is “enough there that says our employees are not following our quality practice and they failed to report it.”
The company stressed it has zero tolerance for animal abuse and has recently introduced video-monitoring of all euthanasia.
But Mercy For Animals Canada — a non-profit group established in Canada two years ago — wants video surveillance extended to all facilities and live-streamed online.
“Cameras are only as effective as the person monitoring them,” Francois said.
WARNING: Graphic content
Turkeys abused at Ontario farm, animal rights group claims | Ontario | News | Toronto Sun
