Butterball Accused Of Abusing Turkeys: Hidden Camera Video Exposed

With Thanksgiving right around the corner and turkey as the main event at most dinner tables, an animal rights group is alleging that Butterball workers at five North Carolina farms in Lenoir, Duplin, Onslow and Sampson Counties have been engaged in a pattern of  abuse and neglect.



In December of 2011, animal welfare advocacy group Mercy for Animals released a gruesome undercover video of turkey abuse at a plant that raises poultry for Butterball.

That footage led to a raid of the plant being videotaped, as well as several arrests and criminal charges for employees who were involved.

But it seems Butterball — which raises a full 20 percent of the total turkey sold in the country every year, and 30 percent of the turkey eaten on Thanksgiving — hasn’t learned its lesson. 

A  hidden-camera video released on Wednesday by Mercy For Animals shows workers in October 2012, apparently kicking and stomping turkeys, dragging them by their wings and necks, and slamming them onto the ground, on top of other birds or on transport crates. The group said on its website that the birds suffered from

serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, and broken bones.