No Probe Yet In Alleged Perdue Cruelty Case

By Shawn J. Soper, Staff Writer

The Maryland Coast Dispatch
November 5, 2004

OCEAN CITY—No local investigation is underway yet in the alleged animal cruelty case against Perdue Farms Showell processing plant here in Worcester after a seven-minute videotape showing apparent animal abuses made national news last week.

The animal rights advocacy group Compassion Over Killing last week released a videotape as well as a daily log compiled by one of its investigators, who was hired by Perdue and worked in its Showell processing plant for two weeks in September. Perdue is closing the plant as part of a corporate restructuring, and the closure has nothing to do with the alleged abuses of chickens being processed at the plant.

The animal rights advocacy group's investigator was hired by Perdue and secretly recorded the videotape and compiled the daily log outlining the alleged daily abuse of chickens being processed at the Showell facility. The seven-minute tape shows Perdue workers shoving and throwing live chickens down the processing line and shows the birds stacking up on each other while awaiting their fate.

The video clearly shows chickens being hung upside down by their feet as their throats are slashed, after which they flap their wings wildly. The tape and the log also document chickens with their throats cut slowly dying on the assembly line while workers take their lunch break.

Perhaps the most troubling abuse incident described in the log relates the story of a worker spiking a live chicken on the floor of the plant as he demonstrates a play from a football game.
"While one of the workers was talking about football, he spiked a chicken onto the conveyor belt, pretending he had scored a touchdown," the log reads.

Compassion Over Killing released the tape late last week and is urging Worcester County law enforcement agencies to investigate the abuse charges and take the appropriate action in terms of prosecution. The investigation would be conducted by the County Sheriff's Office, who would, in turn, present any evidence of abuse to the State's Attorney Office, which would decide if the evidence presented merited prosecution under Maryland's animal cruelty statute.

Sheriff Chuck Martin, who was out of the office last week, has not reviewed the tape and, therefore, has not moved forward with plans for an investigation.

"This wouldn't normally fall under our purview, but I am going to look at the film, get together with [State's Attorney] Joel Todd and see where we go from here," said Martin. "I've been away for a week and I have to get up to speed on this before we decide what action to take."

State's Attorney's Office officials said this week they won't consider any prosecution action until the pending investigation is conducted.

"Right now, the State's Attorney has not been presented any evidence to prosecute the case at this point," said spokeswoman Mary Nelson. "He [Todd] prosecutes a case after evidence is presented, if there is enough, but we're not at that point with this yet."

Compassion Over Killing officials, meanwhile, are waiting for the local law enforcement agencies to conduct their own investigation and have urged the State's Attorney's Office to prosecute Perdue and or its workers.

"The ball is in the Sheriff's and/or the State's Attorney's court and it's up to them to decide whether or not to prosecute," said Compassion Over Killing Campaigns Director Paul Shapiro. "As far as we're concerned, we think the video speaks for itself. Any humane person watching this video will be able to make the right decisions about these abuses."

Perdue, meanwhile, this week refuted the alleged abuse charges, citing their own investigation after the video and the undercover investigator's logbook were released.

"We take any allegation of animal cruelty seriously, no matter who makes the claim," said Dr. Bruce Stewart-Brown, vice president of quality and food safety for Perdue and a board-certified veterinarian specializing in poultry. "As part of our standard procedure, we responded to the activist's complaints by conducting an investigation at our Showell plant, including interviewing plant associates who handle live birds, and there is no evidence to indicate that anyone did anything to intentionally harm chickens."

Stewart-Brown explained some of the activity recorded in the videotape and alleged as abuse, such as chickens flapping their wings wildly after having their throats cut, was a natural part of the death process for the birds.

"The motion observed by an activist who worked at the plant for two weeks is an involuntary muscle reaction that normally occurs after death," he said.

Shapiro said workers at the plant receive cursory safe food handling techniques, but no appropriate training in the care and handling of live animals. The undercover investigator, for example, was given a quick tour and some cursory food handling information before being put on the assembly line, according to Shapiro.

"None of them are being trained in proper animal care," he said. "Our investigator was hired and put to work without any real training."

Shapiro said the advocacy group is anxiously awaiting action by the local law enforcement agencies and did not rule out the possibility of a lawsuit.

"We're playing the cards we were dealt," he said. "We're confident the Sheriff and State's Attorney will take the appropriate action after reviewing this tape."