You Won’t Believe What This Chicken Farmer Says Is Considered ‘Humanely Raised’ [WATCH]
A pretty alarming video made waves over the internets Thursday, as a chicken farmer spoke out about the treatment of the chickens at his farm.
Craig Watts has been a farmer for Perdue Farms for 22 years and told Compassion USA that his supposed “humanely raised” chickens, really aren’t raised as such.
Perdue Farms is known for having that humanely raised label on its product, but this farmer is calling out the company and saying the label is essentially false.
He let Compassion USA bring in cameras, and the footage in the video showed several disfigured and sick chickens. Watts even went as far as to say that the chickens are in such bad shape, a lot of them die within the first week of life.
These are pretty serious allegations for a company that preaches “responsible food” and “corporate responsibility” on its home page.
The video shows an example of the chicken treatment through an image of a defeated chick that’s unable to move, while a narrator says, “The USDA calls this ‘humanely raised.'” A lot of the chickens in the vid are shown to be crammed in the factory, unable to eat and can barely walk.
As they became aware of the video, Perdue Farms said in a statement that they have:
“Thoroughly reviewed the video posted by an animal advocacy group, and we can assure you that the conditions shown in this farmer’s poultry house do not reflect Perdue’s standards.”
The National Chicken Council had a panel review the video as well, and panelist Dr. S.F. Bilgili said that it is the farmer’s responsibility to check on the chickens twice a day and if the chickens are:
“… sick, immobilized, with gait problems, etc., they should be humanely euthanized immediately, at any age.”
Essentially, the panelist said it’s the farmer’s duty to take care of the issues brought up in the video.
Perdue released a video of its own Thursday, where a Perdue Farms farmer talks about how his chickens are healthy and treated well. His farm did not look like Watts’ at all, as the chickens roamed freely and didn’t look like they were about to die.
Watts said Perdue is misleading the consumer with its “humanely raised” labels and there needs to be a reformation of the way chickens are treated at these farms.
Which side do you believe?
