A New COK Investigation Uncovers Cruelty at a North Carolina Turkey Hatchery that Supplies Butterball
Video shot by hatchery employee includes scenes of chicks gasping for air as they
slowly suffocate in plastic bags.
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While employed at a North Carolina turkey hatchery that now supplies Butterball, a COK investigator
documented the conditions forced upon newly-hatched chicks. As the investigation video shows, from
the moment they’re hatched, these turkeys are submerged into a world of misery. Dumped out of
metal trays and jostled onto conveyor belts after being mechanically separated from cracked egg shells,
the newly-hatched turkeys are tossed around like inanimate objects—they are sorted, sexed,
de-beaked, de-toed, and in some cases de-snooded before they are packed up and shipped off to a
“grow out” confinement facility.
The video further reveals that not all chicks survive this harsh process. Countless chicks become mangled
from the machinery, suffocated in plastic bags, or deemed “surplus” and dumped (along with
injured chicks) into the same disposal system as the discarded egg shells they were separated from hours earlier.
In June and July of 2006, a COK investigator was employed at a North Carolina turkey hatchery
for nearly three weeks. While there, he witnessed and documented the misery endured by
newly-hatched chicks as they began their short lives in the turkey industry. As
our investigator caught on camera, many chicks never even made it out of the hatchery alive.
Those who survived the rough handling of the hatchery processing were shipped off to
“grow out” confinement facilities where most of them will never set foot outside.
Turkeys are typically slaughtered for food when they are just 4 to 5 months old, meaning that
the birds filmed during COK’s investigation in June and July were being raised for
Thanksgiving dinner tables.
The Turkey Industry
Every year in the U.S., an estimated 252 million turkeys are slaughtered for human consumption,
more than 42.5 million of these birds are raised in North Carolina, making it the nation’s
second largest turkey producing state (Minnesota is the first). The turkey hatchery where COK’s
investigator worked for three weeks is owned by Goldsboro Milling Company, a company that recently
announced its acquisition of 51% of the shares of Butterball, LLC, the industry’s most widely
recognized brand name and now the nation’s largest producer of turkey products.
Choose Vegetarian Foods: This holiday season, give turkeys something to be thankful for by serving a vegetarian feast instead. Try these animal-friendly holiday recipes!
Visit TryVeg.com to learn more about vegetarian eating and order your free Vegetarian Starter Guide today!
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