Butterball turkey plant raided on animal cruelty concerns [View all]

Source: Los Angeles Times

North Carolina officials raided a Butterball turkey facility Thursday looking for signs of animal cruelty, according to an animal advocacy group that had sent undercover footage of the site to authorities.

The Hoke County Sheriff’s Department obtained a warrant to search Butterball’s turkey semen collection factory in Shannon, N.C., according to Mercy for Animals.

The activist group had collected hidden-camera footage of the location in November and December, which it then forwarded to law enforcement along with a legal complaint against Garner, N.C.-based Butterball. The video is available here.

Mercy for Animals said it found the birds being kicked, stomped on, dragged and beaten at the facility. Some were suffering from bloody open wounds and infections as well as severe feather loss and broken bones, the group claimed.

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/12/officials-raid-butterball-turkey-plant-on-animal-cruelty-concerns.html