Hundreds of Chickens Die After Being Left on Trailers for Five Days Without Food or Water; PETA Demands Criminal Probe

For Immediate Release:
October 15, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

After receiving multiple whistleblower reports from employees of Pure Prairie Poultry alleging that thousands of chickens were left on transport trailers without food or water for five days—killing a “[s]ignificant” number of them, as confirmed by federal officials—outside the company’s now-shuttered Charles City slaughterhouse, PETA today sent a letter to Floyd County Attorney Todd Prichard urging him to investigate and file appropriate criminal charges against those responsible.

Upon being contacted by the employees last month, PETA immediately alerted U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) leadership to the birds’ plight and offered to connect them with the eyewitnesses so that they could investigate and end the birds’ illegal suffering. The agency neglected to respond for weeks—and when it finally did, it confirmed the whistleblowers’ accounts but said that because the trailers were parked across the street rather than at the slaughterhouse itself, the case was out of the FSIS’s jurisdiction.

“These chickens languished for days with no food, water, or relief from their suffering, and those who managed to survive were summarily slaughtered,” says PETA Vice President of Legal Advocacy Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on Floyd County authorities to investigate and hold Pure Prairie Poultry and its executives accountable for these animals’ slow and agonizing deaths and reminds everyone that the only humane meal is a vegan one.”

PETA received additional whistleblower reports that chickens in some of Pure Prairie Poultry’s Wisconsin contract sheds have gone unfed for nearly two weeks and have resorted to cannibalism—and that there is neither food nor relief from their suffering in sight. The company—which received over $45 million in taxpayer subsidies in 2022—is no longer feeding the birds and apparently is refusing to respond to inquiries from its contracted farmers about the situation.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness and free vegan starter kits for anyone ready to make the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.

PETA’s letter to Prichard follows.

October 15, 2024

The Honorable Todd Prichard

Floyd County Attorney

Dear Mr. Prichard:

I hope this letter finds you well. I’d like to request that your office (and the proper local law-enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file livestock neglect charges against Pure Prairie Poultry Inc. and its executives who were responsible for depriving thousands of crated chickens of water and food for up to five days—killing many of them—on trucks parked near the company’s now closed-down slaughterhouse located at 901 N. Main St. in Charles City.

In recent weeks, PETA spoke with multiple Pure Prairie Poultry employees—one of whom is interested in speaking with your office—who were concerned about these languishing birds, particularly those left on the trucks for five days in September, during which cooling fans failed and approximately 50% of the animals on the trucks evidently died. PETA reported these individuals’ observations three times to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The attached response from FSIS confirms your constituents’ eyewitness accounts, stating that “birds were held from September 6 to 11 before being brought onto [the 901 N. Main St. lot] for harvesting. Significant mortality increases were noted during an electrical outage that affected cooling fans.”

On or about September 16, Pure Prairie Poultry admitted to confining chickens at least overnight. This fatal neglect is entirely inconsistent with the “broiler” chicken industry’s customary practices. The National Chicken Council permits chickens to be deprived of food no longer than 18 hours prior to their slaughter and of water no more than an hour before they’re loaded for transport. The council expects that birds will be slaughtered within 12 hours of being loaded and that companies like Pure Prairie Poultry will have an emergency plan for utility outages that slow the slaughter of animals.

Depriving thousands of chickens of food and water for five days clearly constitutes an equal number of simple misdemeanor violations of I.C.A. § 717.2—or, if your investigation finds evidence of intent, a serious misdemeanor violation for each person charged. Importantly, FSIS considers the shed where these animals suffered and slowly died—on Floyd County parcel #120630100900 between N. Grand Avenue and E Street—to be out of its jurisdiction. Accordingly, your office—and charges under state law—are these victims’ only chance at even a small measure of justice.

Please let us know what we might do to assist you. Thank you for your consideration and for the difficult work that you do.

Sincerely,

Colin Henstock

Associate Director of Project Strategy