Raising Cane’s Chicken Supplier Racks up Years of Federal Violations for Drownings, Scaldings, More

For Immediate Release:
July 30, 2026

Contact:
Moira Colley 202-483-7382

In the midst of Raising Cane’s rapid nationwide expansion, PETA has compiled federal records revealing six years of horrific cruelty to animals at Bachoco OK Foods, which supplies chicken flesh to the Louisiana-based fast food chain and other businesses. Reports show that fully-conscious birds have been plunged into scalding hot water, drowned by the dozens in stunning baths, kicked, and violently slammed into shackles at Bachoco’s two U.S. slaughterhouses.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture records, at the company’s Heavener, Oklahoma slaughterhouse, inspectors frequently found live chickens piled in a dumpster under the bodies of those who died during transport and witnessed workers “repeatedly using excessive force” and “slamming” birds into metal shackles. Conscious birds were scalded alive in defeathering tanks, and “numerous” chickens died after being left on a trailer in freezing temperatures for nearly 18 hours without food or water. In a separate incident at the same facility, a truck full of chickens likely numbering in the thousands was left sitting for at least 37 hours, during which time the birds were provided no food, water, or relief of any kind.

At Bachoco’s Fort Smith, Arkansas slaughterhouse, 19 chickens drowned when a line stoppage left them dangling from shackles and submerged in a tank of water for 26 minutes. Federal inspectors also documented workers kicking a live bird and throwing them onto conveyor belts, including by their wings.

“While Raising Cane’s holds celebrations across the country, terrified birds at its supplier have been kicked, drowned, scalded to death,” says PETA Vice President of Legal Advocacy Daniel Paden. “PETA urges everyone to reject this violent industry and leave chickens in peace by choosing delicious vegan options that don’t support this abhorrent cruelty.”

Chickens form complex social structures, dream when they sleep, and can remember things for years. Yet in the meat industry, they’re confined by the tens of thousands to severely crowded, filthy sheds and bred to grow such unnaturally large upper bodies that their legs often become crippled under the weight. At slaughterhouses like those operated by Bachoco OK Foods, they’re shackled upside-down and mechanized blades slit their throats.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and fear, a chicken is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.