| Dear Friend:
We need your help to make sure that animal abusers are prosecuted. As you may recall, in July, PETA revealed the results of an investigation into a KFC-supplying slaughterhouse in Moorefield, W.Va., where workers were caught on video stomping on chickens, kicking them, and violently slamming them against floors and walls. Workers also ripped the animals’ beaks off, twisted their heads off, spat tobacco into their eyes and mouths, spray painted their faces, and squeezed their bodies so hard that the birds expelled feces—all while the chickens were still alive. Dan Rather echoed the views of all kind people when he said on the CBS Evening News, "there’s no mistaking what [the video] depicts: cruelty to animals, chickens horribly mistreated before they’re slaughtered for a fast-food chain."
You can learn more about the investigation, including links to the video and all the case materials, at the following Web site: www.peta.org/feat/moorefield
On January 11, Ginny Conley, head of a state prosecutors organization, reportedly decided that because these were just "chickens in a slaughterhouse," criminal charges would not be filed. She was also quoted as saying this "needs to be handled more on a regulatory end than prosecuting someone criminally," even though there are absolutely no federal or state regulations dealing with humane poultry slaughter and despite the fact that these sadistic acts were clear violations of the state’s cruelty to animals statute. Here's the AP story:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-sou--chickencruelty0111jan11,0,6849382.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia
or
http://tinyurl.com/6fnys
If dogs or cats suffered this abuse, felony charges would have been filed long ago. Please remind officials that chickens are just as capable of experiencing pain and suffering and are in no way exempt from the state cruelty to animals statute.
What You Can Do
Please contact the prosecutor who decided not to file charges in this case and ask that she reconsider and file felony cruelty to animals charges against all those responsible for the torture of chickens at Pilgrim’s Pride in Moorefield, West Virginia. Please write respectful letters to:
Ginny Conley, Acting Executive Director
West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute
90 MacCorkle Avenue SW, Suite 202
South Charleston, WV 25303
ginnyconley@woodcountywv.com
304-424-1776
304-558-3360 (fax)
Please also contact the governor and governor-elect of West Virginia to politely ask that they use their full authority to ensure that a special prosecutor is appointed, as requested by the judge in the case::
Governor Joe Manchin
Office of the Governor
State Capitol Complex
1900 Kanawha Boulevard, E.
Charleston, WV 25305
304-558-2000 (outside of West Virginia)
1-888-438-2731 (within West Virginia)
304-558-2722 (fax)
E-mail: Governor@WVGov.org
Please forward this to as many sympathetic people as you can. The chickens need all the calls, letters, and faxes that we can muster.
Kind regards,
Cem Akin, Senior Research Associate
|
United
Poultry Concerns, Inc.