PETA to Wisconsin Department of Justice: Investigate Pure Prairie Poultry for Abandoning Birds

For Immediate Release:
October 17, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

Today, PETA sent a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Justice urging it to investigate and file appropriate criminal charges against the Pure Prairie Poultry executives responsible for the suffering and the slow, agonizing deaths of chickens in the company’s contract sheds in Wisconsin—pointing out that leaving birds to starve is a clear violation of the state’s anti-cruelty statutes. The urgent move comes after PETA spoke with whistleblowers who raised animals for Pure Prairie Poultry and reported that tens of thousands of chickens had been abandoned without feed for more than a week—causing many of the birds to resort to cannibalism in a desperate attempt to survive.

PETA notes that Pure Prairie Poultry owned the chickens and was responsible for providing feed for the birds, who were starved on at least six properties in Buffalo and Trempealeau counties. The company—which received over $45 million in taxpayer subsidies in 2022—left farmers without any way to feed the chickens and apparently refused to respond to their pleas for assistance. Many farmers are now attempting to give away the surviving birds.

“Tens of thousands of chickens, each one an individual who feels pain and fear, were left to die, and many slowly starved,” says PETA Vice President of Legal Advocacy Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling on the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate and hold Pure Prairie Poultry executives accountable for abandoning these birds and urges everyone to help prevent chickens from dying in the meat industry by going vegan.”

Following a request from PETA, the Charles City Police Department in Iowa is investigating Pure Prairie Poultry for leaving thousands of chickens 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-closed slaughterhouse there.

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 as well as 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 the Wisconsin Department of Justice follows.

October 17, 2024

Tina R. Virgil

Administrator

Division of Criminal Investigation

Wisconsin Department of Justice

Dear Ms. Virgil:

I hope this letter finds you well. I’m writing to respectfully request that your agency investigate and file appropriate criminal charges against the executives of Pure Prairie Poultry Inc. in Fairfax, Minnesota, who recently abandoned tens of thousands of chickens without feed—for more than a week—on at least six properties in Buffalo and Trempealeau counties, as has been extensively reported in the media, killing many of these animals.

Pure Prairie Poultry owned the chickens delivered to the farmers it contracted with and was responsible for providing them with feed. On September 26, a whistleblower with the company told PETA that more than a million birds in its contract chicken sheds in Wisconsin and two other states were in imminent danger of running out of food and that the company had no plans to provide more. After we notified state and federal agriculture officials of the looming crisis, two additional whistleblowers told PETA that Pure Prairie Poultry had ceased communications with them after they pleaded for assistance in feeding tens of thousands of these animals. As the vice president of the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation described it, Pure Prairie Poultry “pretty much threw away the keys and walked away. Now, these farmers are left with absolutely zero resources” to feed these animals.

This systemic, widespread, and often fatal neglect occurred at the following properties, whose owners are now frantically giving away the survivors in an attempt to stop them from starving to death: W474 Richard Rd., near Mondovi; W166 Hwy. 10, near Mondovi; W284 Co. Rd. HH, near Mondovi; N47656 Co. Rd. Y, near Eleva; and W21462 Holcomb Coulee Rd., near Galesville. The owners of a sixth farm—who documented their loss of feed and its fatal impact on chickens, who resorted to cannibalism in a desperate attempt to survive—will speak with your agency if you’re interested in hearing their eyewitness accounts.

Depriving tens of thousands of chickens of food for more than a week clearly constitutes an equal number of violations of W.S.A. 951.02, which prohibits treating animals in a cruel manner; W.S.A. 951.13, which prohibits failing to supply a confined animal with a sufficient supply of food; and/or W.S.A. 951.15, which prohibits abandoning any animal.

Although these statutes do not exempt common or industry-accepted agricultural practices from prosecution, the documented conduct violates the “broiler” chicken industry’s own standards and thus would not be protected from prosecution if such an exemption did exist. The National Chicken Council permits chickens to be deprived of food for no longer than 18 hours prior to their slaughter.

Please note that Pure Prairie Poultry executives may have populated these properties (and perhaps others) with birds they knew the company might not be able to feed for the duration of their short lives. On or about September 16, the company referenced “unforeseen downtime” in “recent weeks” at its Charles City, Iowa, slaughterhouse. Four days later, it filed for bankruptcy. The suspects may have been aware of the company’s looming financial crisis—and its related inability to provide sustenance to animals in its charge—by mid-August, when it delivered very young chickens it intended to catch and slaughter in late September.

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