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Thanks to a Mercy For Animals exposé, two Canadian companies have pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges! Our whistleblower documented egregious abuse of chickens, including stomping on live birds and tearing off their limbs. Elite Farm Services and Sofina Foods both pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty for causing undue suffering. They must each pay $300,000 in fines and have been sentenced to three years’ probation.
This outcome represents huge progress for farmed animals! Companies and their owners are responsible for the animals in their care, and they should be held accountable when animals are mistreated.
The footage was shot in 2017 at multiple farms in British Columbia, where Elite Farm Services workers were under contract with Sofina Foods to catch chickens and deliver them to slaughter. Our whistleblower witnessed harrowing cruelty, such as tearing the limbs off live birds and violently smashing and stomping their injured bodies into the ground.
In 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency laid charges against Elite Farm Services, Sofina Foods, and Elite owner Dwayne Paul Dueck. While Sofina claimed to be “appalled and extremely shocked” by the footage, a former supervisor at Elite Farm Services claimed that management had been at least partly aware of the terrible treatment of chickens.
Prior to pleading guilty, the accused twice attempted to have the case thrown out of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. They failed both times.
This is the second time that the head of a company has been charged in Canada after a Mercy For Animals exposé revealed the company’s systemic mistreatment of animals. In this case, the exposé was so powerful that it resulted in new standards in British Columbia for “chicken catching,” including additional reporting and auditing.
Looking to take a stand in your own life? Download our free veg starter guide to learn how to leave chickens and other animals off your plate.