Volunteer undercover investigators drive livestock industry cruelty cases
B.C. SPCA and Mercy for Animals ‘work very well together’
Every major investigation of cruelty at commercial, animal-rearing operations in B.C. in recent years has been driven by the undercover work of Mercy for Animals.
While the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals doesn’t encourage undercover investigations by volunteers, such operations do lead to criminal convictions, said Marcie Moriarty, chief prevention and enforcement officer of the society.
SPCA probes are mainly driven by complaints from the public and more than 9,000 are lodged annually against pet owners and hobby farmers. Significant complaints about commercial farms and meat processors are extremely rare, just two in the past four years, both from Mercy for Animals.
“Most commercial operations are not open to public viewing ... so the only way we would get a complaint to investigate is a Mercy for Animals report or an employee report,” she said.
The society has limited powers to inspect for animal-cruelty violations and with the equivalent of just 30 constables covering the province, “proactive” investigations are too time-consuming to pursue, she said.
Mercy for Animals “whistleblowers” apply for and accept work at farms and processing plants — often for months at a time — to record the conduct of the staff and the condition of the animals.
“We don’t direct what Mercy for Animals does, but when they provide us with materials, we work very well together,” Moriarty said.
One recent, high-profile case resulted in the dismissal of six employees of Elite Farm Services after a video sting captured images of workers hitting and dismembering live chickens at a Sofina Foods processing facility, which supplies poultry to Lilydale.
Earlier this year, three workers at Chilliwack Cattle Sales were sent to jail for beating cows and lifting one by a chain around its neck with a tractor, all of which was captured on hidden camera.
Because the whistleblowers obtain clear video of abuses and carefully document their observations, the prosecutions are often successful, said Moriarty, who also acknowledged that undercover work is potentially dangerous and emotionally disturbing.
Former Mercy for Animals investigator Barb Wright has suffered from anxiety as a result of her undercover work at Creekside and Kuku Farms, both suppliers to Burnbrae Canada’s largest egg producer.
“I did three investigations and generally I would work at each facility for two to three months,” she said. “I did this (on and off ) for about three years and I’ve had some side-effects with anxiety.”
Wright sought out an undercover assignment as a way to help educate the public about the realities of raising animals for meat and eggs.
“Seeing all the animals confined to cages affected me immediately,” she recalled. “From the day they were hatched, the chicks were put into cages. I remember feeling how sad it was they would spend their lives in a cage like that.”
Mercy volunteers take time off between investigations to recover from the stress of working undercover for two or more months, said Mercy vice-president Krista Hiddema.
“It is not a job that people can do for extended periods of time, given how very difficult it is on them emotionally and physically,” she said.
“They are away from their families, away from their friends. They are performing the most horrendous work you can imagine.”
A recruitment ad for undercover investigators calls for the successful candidate to “apply for and obtain employment in the animal agriculture industry, including factory farms, hatcheries, livestock markets and slaughterhouses.”
Mercy for Animals checks on the well-being of its volunteer undercover investigators daily during operations and for years after.
The organization doesn’t reveal details about how they’re housed and supported while undercover, to protect the safety of whistleblowers in the field and those who will go undercover in the future.
At the end of an operation the volunteers are debriefed and offered counselling and other supports, Hiddema said.
Footage depicting chickens forced into a grotesque sex act obtained in the Elite Farm Services investigation was deemed too “horrendous” to be included in the publicly released video.
“It was that bad,” she said. “Sometimes we have to make decisions about what we believe the public can handle. The forms of cruelty would literally make your stomach turn.”
The vast majority of federal enforcement of animal-cruelty laws is for violations of the requirement for humane transport of livestock.
Sometimes we have to make decisions about what we believe the public can handle. The forms of cruelty would literally make your stomach turn.