After
being caught on hidden camera beating chickens with spiked clubs, Thomas and
Susan Blassingame pled guilty yesterday to one count each of animal cruelty in
the Weakley County, Tennessee General Sessions Court. These convictions follow
Mercy For Animals’ undercover investigation at the Blassingames’ T & S Farm
in Dukedom, Tennessee. The investigative footage shows the Blassingames beating
and stabbing chickens using a spiked club, standing on the birds’ heads and
pulling their wings or bodies to break their necks, and throwing live birds
into buckets to suffer and slowly die.
Thomas
and Susan Blassingame were each sentenced by Judge Thomas L. Moore Jr. to pay $25
fines and court costs.
Watch the video
footage that led to these convictions here:
At
the time of MFA’s investigation, T
& S Farm was under contract with Tyson Foods to supply chicken for
McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets.
These
criminal cruelty convictions illustrate the inhumane and illegal abuses that
chickens are all too often subjected to at McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets
suppliers nationwide. Sadly, the fines levied against the Blassingames are a
pathetic slap on the wrist, unlikely to deter future acts of violence against
animals.
Instead
of allowing animal abuse to continue unchecked at its chicken suppliers,
McDonald’s must act immediately by implementing meaningful animal welfare
policies to ensure that no more chickens are illegally tortured for its Chicken
McNuggets.
MFA
is calling on both McDonald’s and Tyson Foods to end selective breeding of
birds for rapid growth and shift to slower-growing breeds of birds to prevent
health problems related to accelerated growth. Birds should be provided with
more space, clean litter, access to natural light, and environmental
enrichments. And the live-shackle slaughter method should be replaced by less
cruel systems that eliminate the horrific suffering caused by shackling,
shocking, and slitting the throats of conscious animals.
No
company with morals should subject animals to this unspeakable suffering.
Ultimately, the
best way to ensure that animals are protected from such horrific abuse is
simply to leave them off your plate. Visit ChooseVeg.com today for free vegetarian recipes and tips.