Undercover Exposés
Uncovering Cruelty
At industrial farms and slaughterhouses, farmed animals endure shocking conditions, out of sight and out of mind.
But Mercy For Animals whistleblowers working at facilities pull back the curtains of these secretive operations, leading to landmark changes along the way.
PAST EXPOSÉS
Maple Lodge Farms
Ontario, 2018
Hidden-camera footage recorded at a hatchery owned by Maple Lodge Farms exposes baby chicks ground up alive, roughly slammed onto equipment, and viciously killed by having their necks smashed against metal edges of factory machines.
Elite Farm Services
British Columbia, 2017
Shocking undercover footage reveals Elite Farm Services workers, hired to catch and load chickens into transport trucks for slaughter at a Lilydale slaughterhouse, engaging in appalling acts, including stomping on birds, kicking birds into the air, and mimicking sexual acts with them. After the release of the exposé, the BC SPCA recommended criminal charges, but charges have yet to be laid.
Lilydale
British Columbia, 2016
Covert footage taken inside a slaughter facility in British Columbia shows unimaginable suffering and abuse, including turkeys scalded alive in hot-water tanks, birds’ throats cut open, workers yanking turkeys out of crates and violently shackling them upside down on the slaughter line, and frightened birds shocked in an electrified vat of water while still conscious and able to feel pain.
Délimax
Québec, 2014
After a gut-wrenching exposé at this Délimax-affiliated veal factory farm in Canada’s largest veal-producing province, Les Producteurs Bovins du Québec and Canada’s top grocery chains, including Metro, Loblaws, and Sobeys, committed to ending the sale of veal from crated calves by 2018.
Chilliwack Cattle Sales
British Columbia, 2014
Horrific undercover footage shot at Canada’s largest dairy factory farm exposes workers viciously kicking and punching cows; beating cows with chains, metal pipes, and canes; and poking and squeezing festering wounds of cows suffering from infections and gruesome injuries. As a result, seven workers, along with the company and one of its owners, were convicted of animal cruelty.
Western Hog Exchange
Alberta, 2014
Shocking hidden-camera video at Western Hog Exchange, a pig “assembly yard,” reveals sick or injured animals who had just been trucked hundreds of kilometres in extreme weather being violently beaten by workers. The footage also shows “downer” animals who are unable to walk being shocked with electric prods and left to suffer without proper veterinary care. After the release of the video, the federal government announced reform of Canada’s transportation legislation for the first time in over 40 years.
Puratone
Manitoba, 2012
Undercover footage taken at a Puratone facility captures the suffering of pigs raised for meat in Canada. Confined to tiny metal cages called gestation crates, the pigs are unable to turn around, walk, or engage in any other natural behaviours. The footage also reveals piglets being castrated without anesthesia. After the release of this exposé, major retailers in Canada agreed to phase cruel gestation crates out of their pork supply chains.