'It's inhumane': Workers at Tyson Foods plants caught on videotape punching, kicking, suffocating chickens and shoving plastic rods through their beaks

  • Animal rights group Compassion Over Killing secretly recorded the disturbing video
  • Chickens were thrown against walls, punched, ripped from machines, kicked, and in one case a worker stood on a bird's head until it suffocated
  • Tyson says it is retraining its workers and banning the process of 'beak modification' of its male chickens

By Kiri Blakeley For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:57 EST, 11 August 2016 | Updated: 16:18 EST, 12 August 2016

Graphic video showing the torture of chickens by workers at chicken slaughterhouses that service Tyson Foods has prompted animal cruelty investigations.

Animal rights group Compassion Over Killing secretly recorded video of workers in plants throwing, punching, kicking and 'boning' chickens by shoving plastic rods through their beaks, according to The Washington Post.

Workers at various plants in Virginia were shown tossing live chickens across the facility in a video secretly made by animal rights advocates Compassion Over Killing

Workers at various plants in Virginia were shown tossing live chickens across the facility in a video secretly made by animal rights advocates Compassion Over Killing

'The more they kick, you squeeze on the head' one worker told an undercover worker 

'The more they kick, you squeeze on the head' one worker told an undercover worker 

'Makes you don't want to eat them' one worker observed of the injured, sick, and dying chicks

'Makes you don't want to eat them' one worker observed of the injured, sick, and dying chicks

The wrenching video also shows workers wringing birds' necks, running over them with forklifts and leaving injured birds to die in a large pile. One man stands on a chicken's head while it slowly suffocates. 

The workers were apparently all too aware that what they were doing was wrong.

Tyson said it had fired the workers in the video and would be 'aggressively' retraining all staff that works directly with chickens

Tyson said it had fired the workers in the video and would be 'aggressively' retraining all staff that works directly with chickens

'You can't let nobody see you do that. A stranger . . . you don’t know if he’s working for the animal rights,' one worker tells another. 'It's inhumane standing on his head and letting him suffocate. They'll take you to court for that.'

'The more they kick, the more squeeze on the head,' a worker instructed.

'This level of violence and abuse is so egregious, it violates Virginia state animal protection laws,' executive director Erica Meier said in a statement. 'The company should be held accountable - and consumers deserve to know the truth about the horrors inflicted upon these animals. Tyson, the titan of this industry, is literally crushing the life out of birds.' 

One worker in the disturbing video was seem using a forklift to crush a bird to death 

One worker in the disturbing video was seem using a forklift to crush a bird to death 

A mangled chicken was seen hanging from rafters where it slowly died 

A mangled chicken was seen hanging from rafters where it slowly died 

Tyson, the largest chicken seller in the US, released statements in the wake of the undercover video, saying it is 'disgusted' by the actions shown and will be 'aggressively' retraining employees.

Tyson said it fired the employees seen in the video. It said it 'reached out' to authorities and would cooperate in any animal cruelty investigations.

Four of the facilities shown in the video are in Virginia. Animal Control officials in Mecklenburg and Buckingham counties confirmed to the Washington Post that they were investigating but an official in Lunenburg County did not return a request for comment.

Chickens have plastic rods shoved through their beaks in a process of 'beak modification'

Chickens have plastic rods shoved through their beaks in a process of 'beak modification'

It also said it had eliminated the 'beak modification' shown in the video, which involved plastic rods being jammed through chickens' beaks, apparently is to keep male chickens from taking food from females. Tyson said that previously all but two plants - presumably the plants shown in the video - had discontinued this practice and now the last two have done so as well.

Still, even Tyson believes there is more work to be done. 

'We believe we haven’t gone far enough and must do more to stop this inexcusable behavior,' the company said.

The video comes a year after Tyson Foods released a report claiming that third party auditors observed 'zero acts of abuse' of chickens at its factories.

Animals at Tyson Foods plants are supposed to be 'free from discomfort, pain, injury, abuse, fear and distress' the company wrote on its website. 

Comments on the company's Facebook wall were overwhelmingly negative, with one person writing 'So sick by the video! I'm sorry, but you lost this customer!!'

 

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