Hybrid Turkeys, the world’s largest primary turkey breeder, along with five of its employees, have been charged with a total of 11 counts of cruelty to animals following an undercover investigation by Mercy For Animals Canada. This is the first time animal cruelty charges have resulted from an investigation by an animal protection group in Canada. Charges were filed in violation of the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act after workers were caught kicking and throwing turkeys, crushing their spines, and viciously beating them with shovels and metal rods, as well as turkeys with gaping, pus-filled wounds and rotting eyes left to suffer and die.
Following the investigation, MFA Canada immediately contacted Ontario law enforcement authorities and presented them with a detailed legal complaint and the undercover video footage. MFA Canada praises law enforcement for taking swift and decisive action in pursuing justice for these abused and neglected animals.
MFA Canada is also calling on the National Farm Animal Care Council to establish standards to ensure that sick and injured birds are provided with appropriate veterinary care, that turkeys are no longer bred to grow so fast they become crippled under their own weight, and that live streaming video cameras are installed in all facilities that handle farmed animals to help prevent malicious abuse.
“This case graphically illustrates the cruel, inhumane and illegal abuses that turkeys and other farmed animals are forced to endure throughout Canada,” said Mercy For Animals Canada’s director of legal advocacy, Anna Pippus. “The animal cruelty charges filed against Hybrid Turkeys should send a clear message to the factory farming industry that animal abuse will not be tolerated by the Canadian public.”
Please visit www.TurkeyTorture.ca for more information and to take action.
