Tyson Foods Graphic Undercover Video Infuriates Animal Rights Groups, Prompts Training Changes [Graphic Video]


The animal rights group Compassion Over Killing has infiltrated multiple Tyson Foods production farms, and the graphic undercover video that has been compiled and publicly released is utterly disturbing. The graphic undercover video, which features Tyson Foods workers brutally abusing chickens, has prompted the company to issue a public statement in which it promises that “bird handlers” will be retrained.

The behavior that has inspired Tyson Foods to retrain its “bird handlers”? In the undercover video, Tyson employees can be seen viciously abusing chickens; kicking them, tossing them around, and even strangling the helpless birds.

In addition to publicly addressing the graphic undercover video, Tyson Foods also claims to have fired ten employees who were secretly videotaped violently abusing the animals.

In addition to losing their jobs with Tyson Foods, the ten fired workers may also be facing criminal charges for their actions. According to U.S. News and World Report, local law enforcement investigators are looking into the animal abuse and may choose to hold the animal abusers seen on the graphic undercover Tyson Foods video legally liable for their actions.

Dr. Christine Daugherty, an employee and representative of Tyson Foods, wrote that the employees depicted vilely abusing Tyson chickens in the video have already been trained in the proper, humane treatment of chickens. However, despite their training, the chickens continue to be abused and Tyson employees who witnessed the abuse but didn’t participate failed to report the “despicable treatment” of the abused animals to superiors.

“The people shown in the video by Compassion Over Killing were all trained in proper animal handling, yet chose to ignore it and failed to alert management about the despicable treatment on these farms. Animals in our care deserve to be treated humanely. It’s our responsibility to ensure that everyone who works for our company behaves properly.”

In the statement issued by Tyson Foods in response to the graphic undercover video, the company admits that it hasn’t done enough to ensure that its birds are treated humanely and ethically.

The company also promises that it will cease the practice of “beak modification” among its male birds. Apparently, the brutal practice is used to prevent roosters from eating unacceptable/undesirable food items. According to Tyson Foods, the practice had already been done away with at all but two of its production locations, and following the release of the graphic undercover video, will be “immediately” ceased at the remaining plants.

As ABC Action News reports, the graphic undercover video caught the conversation between a Tyson Foods supervisor and the undercover Compassion Over Killing agent. The conversation indicates regarding the inhumane treatment of a single chicken, a chicken that was suffocated by the Tyson Foods supervisor, who was reportedly standing on the animal’s head. In the graphic undercover Tyson Foods video, the Tyson supervisor tells the undercover worker that not only did he know that what he was doing violated company policy, he knew that the cruelty was potentially criminal.

“Can’t let nobody see you do that…. It’s inhumane, standing on his head and letting him suffocate. They’ll take you to court for that.”

It is precisely the attitude of the previously-trained Tyson Foods supervisor that has animal rights groups wondering whether the animal abuse problems at Tyson Foods plants can be corrected by more extensive training. The company already trains its employees with regard to animal abuse, humane treatment, and animal cruelty laws. However, despite the training, animals are still being abused at Tyson Foods plants. And this isn’t the first time that Tyson Foods has dealt with the release of undercover videos showing clear cases of animal cruelty at its facilities.

What do you think? Is more intensive training enough? Can Tyson Foods really stop animal abuse at its production locations simply through seminars, firing employees that treat animals inhumanely and referring them to local law enforcement? Can the meat industry ever be rendered fully humane? Will the latest Tyson Foods graphic undercover video release result in better conditions for their animals?

[Image via Shutterstock]

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