PETA Global 2019 Issue 1

T H E R E ’ S A P E R S O N I N T H E R E • T H E R E ’ S A P E R S O N I N T H E R E

Kat Claws at Hen Abusers

‘Rotting Alive’ PETA Investigation Reveals the Agony in Every Egg

Chicken farm: © iStock.com/liubomirt

Feminist egg ad:Woman: © iStock.com/ajr_images • Egg: © iStock.com/bunhill • Kat Graham: © Starmaxinc.com

W hen a whistleblower described hens who “looked like they were rotting alive” inside an Oklahoma chicken prison that supplies eggs to The Kroger Co. – America’s largest grocer – and other supermarkets, PETA quickly sent an eyewitness to investigate. Not only were the birds rotting, they were also roasting: As temperatures inside the packed sheds soared to 106°F (41°C), chickens panted, desperate to cool themselves. Some had no access to water. Nearly 8,000 birds endured prolonged and agonizing deaths, likely from heatstroke. Their corpses were left to rot inside the cages, and the surviving birds had to stand on and try to sleep near them. Beaten, Gassed, and Left for Dead Inside the massive sheds at this facility, called Mahard Egg Farm, which was able to hold over a million hens at a time, dead chickens littered the floors and were dropped into pits containing 5-foot high heaps of manure. When the eyewitness reported the plight of one hen – still alive amid the remains of others – the worker said that the bird would be dead soon anyway and simply walked away. PETA’s eyewitness tried to help another hen whose leg was stuck in a cage, untangling her and reporting that her leg was probably broken. The next day, the eyewitness gave the dehydrated bird a drink, but a worker yanked her from the cage by one of her fragile wings and dropped her onto the floor to die. Each sensitive hen is an individual. Each has her own interests, thoughts, and personality, but the egg industry worldwide treats chickens as if they were inconsequential in all respects. As is typical

in other facilities, when the birds’ egg production waned, workers pulled them – in this instance, more than 49,000 of them – out of their cages and then, in many cases, beat their heads against metal boxes and finally gassed them with carbon dioxide, an extremely painful experience. Some were still alive when they were dumped onto a conveyor belt and loaded into trucks. Workers slammed the struggling hens against the sides of the trucks and struck them with a piece of wood. They hit one of the birds as if she were a baseball, sending her body flying. Assurances Aren’t Enough PETA has alerted Mahard’s customers as well as law enforcement officials to the abuse that was observed, and Kroger said that it would suspend ties with the farm, but that’s not enough – not by a long shot. As long as hens are used as egg-producing machines, their misery will continue. PETA affiliates worldwide are exposing hens suffering in similar conditions. In the UK, plans for a facility that would have imprisoned up to 144,000 chickens at a time in dark, crowded sheds were scrapped after some 20,000 PETA UK supporters signed a petition opposing it – the second time that PETA UK has helped defeat a planning application for the horrific enterprise. In Australia, the suffering inside chicken sheds has been documented for decades.

Each sensitive hen is an individual. Each has her own interests, thoughts, and personality, but the egg industry worldwide treats chickens as if they were inconsequential in all respects.

Vampire Diaries star Kat Graham narrates a PETA video exposé of three egg farms in British Columbia, revealing how pervasive the egg industry’s cruelty is. It shows hens stuck and left for dead in mounds of feces teeming with maggots, birds locked inside cramped cages with the rotting corpses of their cagemates, and others suffering from extensive feather loss, injuries, and illness. Around the world, billions of gentle hens are suffering for nothing more than an egg salad sandwich. ovulation – eggs – can be sold. Cows are repeatedly raped by artificial insemination, and their calves are stolen from them so that humans can also steal their milk. Sows are used as breeding machines and imprisoned for life in cramped metal crates, unable to care for or play with their piglets. Eggs, milk, and meat are the result of rape and exploitation – and consuming them is anti-feminist, as this PETA ad points out. Animal agriculture is built on the exploitation of females: Hens are caged for life so that the products of their

Take Action Now Chickens’ suffering won’t stop until we stop eating them and their eggs –

so if you haven’t already, please go vegan today. Please share this article with your friends and family, and demand that Kroger take immediate action to avoid inflicting more agony on hens. Go to PETA.org/EggCruelty today.

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