Trial Is Monday, August 7, 2006
August 4, 2006
On Monday, August 7, 2006, at 9:30 a.m., the Magisterial District Court in Lancaster County will hear a case of criminal animal cruelty against the owner and manager of Esbenshade Farms—North, an egg farm in Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania. In January 2006, each defendant was charged with 35 counts of criminal cruelty to animals stemming from documentation that includes an undercover video filmed by an investigator with Washington, D.C.-based animal advocacy charity Compassion Over Killing. The investigator gathered the footage while employed at the egg farm from November 30 to December 9, 2005.
The video was then presented to Pennsylvania-certified humane officer Johnna Seeton who subsequently filed the charges. Scenes from the video include hens impaled on loose wires of their cages; hens with their toes or legs entangled in the wires of the cage floor unable to access food or water; and decomposing birds left rotting in cages with live hens. The defense's attempt to suppress this video evidence was denied by the court during a preliminary hearing in April.
Lawyers with The Humane Society of the United States are providing legal assistance with the case.
Court date: Monday, August 7, 2006
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Location: 920 S. Spruce St., Elizabethtown, PA
Investigative footage and hi-res photos available upon request at 202-270-8253.
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