60,000 Chickens Dead—Just Business as Usual?
As many as 60,000 chickens died recently at Greenway Farms in Cleveland County, North Carolina, after a generator failure caused a fan to stop working in one of the chicken houses, leaving the smart, sensitive birds to suffer an excruciating death in the suffocating heat under intensive confinement.
We’d like to say that this horrific incident is unusual, but it’s not—every summer, chicken-farm operators casually write off losses of birds because of their own careless failure to provide or maintain back-up generators or to employ emergency evacuation plans. But one thing is different in this case: Unlike many other jurisdictions, Cleveland County has cruelty-to-animal statutes that rightly apply to chickens—not just dogs and cats. So PETA has called on the county’s district attorney to look into this case and to carefully consider filing cruelty-to-animals charges against the owners of Greenway Farms.
Tired of supporting businesses that treat living beings as if they were expendable materials? Click here to learn how to free yourself—and animals—from this cycle of cruelty.
Written by Jeff Mackey
