Mercy for Animals published a video to their YouTube channel Monday titled “Birds at Major Chicken Supplier Viciously Kicked and Thrown”. The 2.5 minute video shows clips of workers rounding up chickens and shoving them into transport cages at a contract farm for Pilgrim’s Pride, which the video’s narration identifies as a supplier for KFC & Popeye’s
“Pilgrim’s pays these workers according to the number of chickens caught, not hours worked,” states the narrator. “This leads to an environment where workers are incentivized to catch chickens quickly, resulting in improper and violent handling of these animals.”
Kentucky state law requires livestock handling and transport to be done “in a manner that minimizes the risk of injury.” Mercy for Animals claims that through publishing videos from undercover investigations, violations and animal cruelty can be documented, leading to the enforcement of existing laws. However, Kentucky Senate Bill 16, which passed legislature and is currently awaiting a signature from the governor, proposes making unauthorized filming of factory farms and food production facilities illegal.
Mercy for Animals calls SB 16 an “ag-gag” bill – legislation which would punish industry whistleblowers. Similar ag-gag laws have been passed in other states, though many have been found unconstitutional due to violation of the first amendment.
Under current Kentucky law, video recording is only strictly prohibited in places where people have a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” such as bathrooms and private residences.
