PETA Offers Up to $5,000 to Find, Convict Killers of More Than 300,000 Chickens
PETA Wants Culprits to Be Charged With Violating Farmed-Animal Facilities Protection Act for ‘Roasting’ Birds Alive
For Immediate Release:
March 5, 2015
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Since mid-February, someone has apparently tampered with the temperature and ventilation controls on at least 16 factory farm sheds in South Carolina, causing approximately 325,000 chickens to die of apparent hypothermia or suffocation or even by being “roasted” alive in a 115-degree shed. Police have yet to make any arrests in connection with the animals’ killings, prompting PETA to offer up to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for these crimes.
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“Someone out there is responsible for adding to the misery of birds who suffer on factory farms like these,” says PETA Senior Director Martin Mersereau. “PETA urges anyone with information to come forward now, before any more animals are roasted alive.”
PETA is calling for any apprehended person(s) to be charged with violating South Carolina’s Farm Animal, Crop Operation, and Research Facilities Protection Act, which prohibits destroying animals, including chickens, in any animal facility with the intent to disrupt or damage the business conducted there. This is a first for the animal rights organization, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat,” and which actively fights similar laws, such as “ag-gag” laws that limit access to factory farms and target PETA’s eyewitness investigations.
The targeted sites, all contract producers for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., were located largely in Clarendon County but also in Sumter and Florence counties.
Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to contact the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office at 803-435-4414.
For more information, please visit PETA.org.