SPCA investigates PETA’s chicken-farm footage
The same Chilliwack company whose employees were filmed stomping on and mangling chickens in a 2017 undercover video are again under investigation by the B.C. SPCA.
Horrific footage shared with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at three Abbotsford egg farms has revealed what appears to be chickens caged with the dead while others were trapped in pools of manure.
The footage, filmed in April by an independent eyewitness and then released Tuesday by PETA, shows chickens in small wire cages, many of them grouped with the decomposing corpses of other chickens; some of the corpses were covered with maggots.
The video also included scenes of chickens being extricated from mounds of brown sludge, which PETA identified as manure.
One of the three farms featured in the video were identified by PETA as Jaedel Enterprises. A call to Jaedel Enterprises was redirected to Katie Lowe, executive director with B.C. Egg Marketing Board.
When reached, Lowe said her organization would provide comment later in the day.
Marcie Moriarty with the B.C. SPCA confirmed the organization is investigating the footage and the farms. She also identified Elite Farm Services as being among those being probed.
Elite is the same company filmed during another undercover investigation by Mercy for Animals last year that showed staffers mangling, stomping on and throwing chickens against walls. Charges have been submitted to Crown but have yet to be approved.
“We executed a warrant yesterday — it also involved Elite,” said Moriarty, who said they had received the complaint from PETA but that it wasn’t until recently that enough evidence was collected to secure a search warrant.
“It’s exceptionally disappointing that this is one year later.”
If charged and convicted, those involved in the latest investigation could face a fine of up to $75,000, a maximum five-year jail sentence and up to a lifetime ban on owning or being near animals.
Katie Lowe from the B.C. Egg Marketing Board said they have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to animal abuse.
“The images in the video are not representative of our industry,” she said.
When B.C. Egg first saw the video and identified the farms, officials were immediately dispatched to investigate.
The maximum punishment violators of B.C. Egg’s standards face is having their licence revoked.