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Amid Pending North Carolina Ag-Gag Bill, New COK Video Uncovers Horrific Abuse to Birds at Mountaire Farms Chicken Slaughterhouse
June 3: NC State Legislature overrode Governor McCrory’s veto of NC’s dangerous ag-gag bill. It will officially be a law on January 1, 2016.
May 29 – VICTORY: Gov McCrory just vetoed HB 405 – NC’s dangerous ag-gag bill!
May 19 – Urgent Update: Last night, the NC Senate passed ag-gag bill SB433/HB405. The bill is now sitting on Gov. McCrory’s desk. Please sign this petition urging him to VETO it.
“Rather than doing the right thing to stop these abuses from happening, the North Carolina chicken industry is desperately trying to prevent Americans from seeing such cruelty,” says COK’s executive director Erica Meier. “Gov. McCrory should follow in the footsteps of other Republican governors such as Arizona’s Doug Ducey and Tennessee’s Bill Haslam by vetoing this shameful ag-gag bill.”
With an “Ag-Gag” bill aimed at suppressing agribusiness whistleblowing now making its way through the North Carolina legislature, COK just released a powerful new undercover video exposing abuse to birds inside Mountaire Farms, a chicken slaughterhouse in Robeson County, NC.
If the pending ag-gag bill SB433/HB405—supported by the North Carolina poultry industry—becomes law, this video may be the last honest look the public will get behind the closed doors of factory farms or slaughterhouses in the state.
ACT NOW: Lend your voice to fight ag-gag!
Captured on camera by a COK investigator who worked inside the Mountaire Farms facility in March and April 2015, the footage reveals:
- Birds being violently thrown around the facility
- Workers punching, shoving, and pushing birds who are hanging, upside-down in shackles
- A worker ripping out bird’s feathers and throwing them at another worker
- Birds being forcefully slammed into leg shackles
- Sick or injured birds being thrown into piles of dead and other dying birds like garbage material
This level of violence against animals is so egregious that it violates the state’s animal protection laws. COK has turned over the evidence to Robeson County law enforcement and is hopeful this case of cruelty will be taken seriously.
The North Carolina legislature is currently fast-tracking a dangerous anti-whistleblower Ag-Gag bill that, if enacted, would have prevented COK’s investigator from shedding light on these violent acts. SB433/HB405 aims to make it illegal to document and expose nearly any wrong-doing inside factory farms and slaughterhouses — from animal abuse and labor issues to food safety and environmental violations.
North Carolina’s chicken industry is desperate to cover up its rampant animal abuse, which is why it’s so feverishly working to enact this law.Rather than doing the right thing to stop these abuses from happening, the North Carolina chicken industry is simply trying to prevent the public from seeing it and punishing anyone who would expose it.
You can send our brave investigators a message to inspire them!
This isn’t the first time North Carolina has attempted to pass an Ag-Gag law that aims to keep Americans in the dark. In just the past few years, undercover investigations in North Carolina have exposed shocking cruelty, including sick and injured birds being buried alive at a chicken factory farm in Harnett County that was also documented by Compassion Over Killing.
Mountaire Farms is the 7th largest chicken slaughterer in the US with operations in North Carolina, Maryland, and Delaware.
