By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An animal rights group on Tuesday released a video it said it secretly taped showing cruelty at a U.S. poultry plant owned by Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (PPC.N), and the company's shares fell as much as 5.7 percent.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the tape showed workers at a West Virginia Pilgrim's Pride plant ripping off birds' beaks, spitting tobacco into their mouths and eyes, stomping and kicking live chickens, and squeezing them with such force "that the birds expelled feces."
The tape is the latest in an 18-month-long series of investigations by PETA of companies that supply KFC, the fast-food chicken chain owned and operated by Yum Brands Inc. (YUM.N).
PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said the abuses found at the Pilgrim's Pride facility went far beyond the "routine, standard cruelty" the animal rights group found in past investigations.
Shannon said PETA workers routinely observed crippled chickens and chickens living without adequate food and water on farms in England, Germany, Australia and India that supplied meat to KFC. But he contrasted that to "the really sadistic abuse that we found in this video" from Moorefield, West Virginia.
Pilgrim's Pride, the No. 2 U.S. poultry producer after Tyson Foods (TSN.N), is a KFC supplier.
Shares in Pilgrim's Pride were off $1.11, or 3.6 percent, at $29.65, after earlier dipping as low as $29.00 in New York Stock Exchange trading, traders said.
Pilgrim's Pride spokesman Ray Atkinson said the Pittsburg, Texas-based company was "appalled at the treatment of the animals shown in the video."
He said the acts shown in the PETA video were "completely contrary" to the company's policies on treatment of poultry and that any employees found in violation of those policies would be fired.
KFC, also describing the videotape as "appalling," said it notified Pilgrim's Pride that it will stop buying from the West Virginia plant "unless they can definitively assure us there are absolutely no abuses taking place."
Shannon said its "undercover investigator" documented the animal abuses over an eight-month period ending in May. He said "hundreds of hours of (video) footage" illustrates the cruelty.
Excerpts were posted on a PETA Web site, http://www.petatv.com, and were being offered to U.S. television networks, Shannon said.
PETA asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a letter on Tuesday, to investigate food safety concerns at the facility, Shannon said. USDA officials were not immediately available for comment.
PETA also said it had presented the video to local prosecutors, calling for felony charges against those responsible for the alleged animal cruelty.
The National Chicken Council, a Washington-based association representing the U.S. industry, has crafted "animal welfare" guidelines that companies can voluntarily implement.
Asked whether Pilgrim's Pride had adopted those guidelines, council spokesman Richard Lobb said, "Of course they have."
Lobb downplayed the impact the video will have on consumers. "This is going to be an isolated case of bad behavior and I think consumers understand that," he said.
PETA argues the problem with KFC chicken suppliers is chronic.
"What KFC has been saying for years is that they have an animal welfare program in place. We think that this investigation proves that they don't," Shannon said.
I'll start the ball rolling by saying their actions are despicable. An acquaintance I know who happened to work at a plant in Arkansas said that they're sh!tting machines and he always wore a shield so these guys were obviously not all there and were not working within the designated areas as he remembers it at his job.
Normally, I detest PETA's actions but since they did this clandestinely and to my knowledge didn't destroy or steal someone else's property I applaud them.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An animal rights group on Tuesday released a video it said it secretly taped showing cruelty at a U.S. poultry plant owned by Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (PPC.N), and the company's shares fell as much as 5.7 percent.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said the tape showed workers at a West Virginia Pilgrim's Pride plant ripping off birds' beaks, spitting tobacco into their mouths and eyes, stomping and kicking live chickens, and squeezing them with such force "that the birds expelled feces."
The tape is the latest in an 18-month-long series of investigations by PETA of companies that supply KFC, the fast-food chicken chain owned and operated by Yum Brands Inc. (YUM.N).
PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said the abuses found at the Pilgrim's Pride facility went far beyond the "routine, standard cruelty" the animal rights group found in past investigations.
Shannon said PETA workers routinely observed crippled chickens and chickens living without adequate food and water on farms in England, Germany, Australia and India that supplied meat to KFC. But he contrasted that to "the really sadistic abuse that we found in this video" from Moorefield, West Virginia.
Pilgrim's Pride, the No. 2 U.S. poultry producer after Tyson Foods (TSN.N), is a KFC supplier.
Shares in Pilgrim's Pride were off $1.11, or 3.6 percent, at $29.65, after earlier dipping as low as $29.00 in New York Stock Exchange trading, traders said.
Pilgrim's Pride spokesman Ray Atkinson said the Pittsburg, Texas-based company was "appalled at the treatment of the animals shown in the video."
He said the acts shown in the PETA video were "completely contrary" to the company's policies on treatment of poultry and that any employees found in violation of those policies would be fired.
KFC, also describing the videotape as "appalling," said it notified Pilgrim's Pride that it will stop buying from the West Virginia plant "unless they can definitively assure us there are absolutely no abuses taking place."
Shannon said its "undercover investigator" documented the animal abuses over an eight-month period ending in May. He said "hundreds of hours of (video) footage" illustrates the cruelty.
Excerpts were posted on a PETA Web site, http://www.petatv.com, and were being offered to U.S. television networks, Shannon said.
PETA asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a letter on Tuesday, to investigate food safety concerns at the facility, Shannon said. USDA officials were not immediately available for comment.
PETA also said it had presented the video to local prosecutors, calling for felony charges against those responsible for the alleged animal cruelty.
The National Chicken Council, a Washington-based association representing the U.S. industry, has crafted "animal welfare" guidelines that companies can voluntarily implement.
Asked whether Pilgrim's Pride had adopted those guidelines, council spokesman Richard Lobb said, "Of course they have."
Lobb downplayed the impact the video will have on consumers. "This is going to be an isolated case of bad behavior and I think consumers understand that," he said.
PETA argues the problem with KFC chicken suppliers is chronic.
"What KFC has been saying for years is that they have an animal welfare program in place. We think that this investigation proves that they don't," Shannon said.
I'll start the ball rolling by saying their actions are despicable. An acquaintance I know who happened to work at a plant in Arkansas said that they're sh!tting machines and he always wore a shield so these guys were obviously not all there and were not working within the designated areas as he remembers it at his job.
Normally, I detest PETA's actions but since they did this clandestinely and to my knowledge didn't destroy or steal someone else's property I applaud them.
