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From December 2004 through February 2005, a PETA undercover investigator worked on the slaughter line of a Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in Heflin, Alabama. Using a hidden camera, he documented the treatment of the more than 100,000 chickens killed every day in the plant.

What the investigator saw was truly horrifying. Birds were frequently mutilated by throat-cutting machines that didn't work properly; one bird had her skin torn entirely off her chest. Workers were instructed to rip the heads off birds who had missed the throat-cutting machines, and our investigator was told not to stop the line for missed birds. Plant employees were seen throwing dying birds around just for fun.

Photos from the investigation

PETA's investigator also witnessed numerous birds who were scalded alive in the feather-removal tank while they were still conscious and able to feel pain. Plant managers told him that it was acceptable for 40 animals per shift to be scalded alive, and no one was reprimanded when far more than 40 birds suffered this fate during any given shift.

PETA's investigator repeatedly expressed concern to plant supervisors about the treatment of the chickens, but his complaints were ignored. Watch the video and see for yourself the agony of these animals' last moments.

Animal-welfare experts agree that this sort of treatment is unacceptable. Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University wrote, "This is a total FAILURE on animal welfare," and Dr. Mohan Raj of the University of Bristol wrote that "due to the lack of appropriate legislation to protect the welfare of birds at slaughter people seem to get away with [these] cruel and unethical practices." Indeed, chickens are not afforded any protection under any federal animal welfare legislation. The Humane Methods of Slaughter Act leaves chickens and turkeys out entirely. Read statements from these and other animal welfare experts.

As hard as it is to stomach, this sort of treatment is entirely too common in modern chicken slaughterhouses. Previous undercover investigations have turned up injured and dying birds left unattended during workers' lunch breaks and workers who ripped animals limb from limb, threw live chickens against walls, and stomped up and down on them on the ground.

Sadly, all these abuses were entirely preventable. In 2003, PETA first contacted Tyson about a new chicken slaughter technology known as controlled-atmosphere killing (CAK), a process that replaces oxygen in the air with an inert gas such as nitrogen—which already makes up 78 percent of the air we breathe—masking the lack of oxygen and putting the birds to sleep quickly and painlessly. CAK would have eliminated all the cruelty that took place in all these investigations, from mutilation by the cutting machine to live scalding, because the birds would have been killed much earlier in the slaughter process and would not have been handled by the workers until they were dead.

You can help. Please ask Tyson to adopt CAK immediately:

John Tyson, Chair and CEO
Tyson Foods, Inc.
2210 W. Oaklawn Dr.
Springdale, AR 72762-6999
479-290-4000
479-290-4061 (fax)

The best thing that you can do to help spare animals from such torture is to stop eating them and, thus, stop supporting the industry that allows such cruelty to occur. Request a FREE vegetarian starter kit today, and be sure to visit VegCooking.com for delicious recipes, a shopping guide, and more!