Chicks Crushed and Macerated While Fully Conscious By Top U.S. Chicken Producer

A new expose by animal investigation group Animal Outlook reveals cruelty and abuse at a Case Farms hatchery.

Credit': Animal Outlook

Egregious acts of violence and abuse toward newborn chicks at a Case Farms hatchery, one of the top 15 chicken producers in the United States, have been released by a new investigation by Animal Outlook.

Chicks killed or mangled by improperly operated machinery, ground alive while fully conscious, or left to rot near their surviving siblings were all captured on camera at a chicken hatchery owned by Case Farms in North Carolina that processes more than 200,000 chicks a day.

Among other issues, the video shows that sick or injured chicks were gassed before being dumped into a macerator to be sliced and rendered; in some instances, dumping fully conscious chicks into the macerator to be ground alive. Workers roughly handled the chicks and dragged plastic trays across them to crush their throats. In addition, newly-hatched chicks were killed, mangled, maimed, or trapped in equipment or machinery that was improperly operated or set up. 

Following the undercover investigation, Animal Outlook has provided its findings to the local prosecutor and law enforcement and requested criminal prosecution of the Case Farms corporation.

“It’s clear that Case Farms does not take seriously its legal and ethical duties of care toward the millions of animals it brings into the world each month. In fact, it appears to be so callous, the cruelty and neglect it imposes on these animals is simply business as usual,” according to Animal Outlook.

The group also notes that this investigation is not just one bad apple. Industrial animal agriculture that looks much like this produces more than 99 percent of the chicken in the U.S.

“In the chicken industry, which produces the chicken Americans eat,  babies suffer from the moment they hatch,” said Animal Outlook. “Major corporations like Case Farms treat these innocent chicks as unfeeling widgets on a production line, transporting them by the thousands on dangerous machinery that traps, maims, dismembers, or pulverizes many of them.”

You can support Animal Outlook’s work to shine a bright light on the dark world of animal agribusiness here.

And help end this horrific cruelty to chicks by choosing to leave animals off your plate. Take the Species Unite 30-Day Vegan Challenge to help you on your way.

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