Workers Crush Chicken’s Legs, Throw Mangled Bird at Local Slaughterhouse; PETA Demands Criminal Probe
For Immediate Release:
January 8, 2025
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
A just-released U.S. Department of Agriculture report reveals that workers at the Koch Foods slaughterhouse in Chattanooga broke a live chicken’s legs and then tossed the suffering bird onto the slaughter line. In response, PETA sent a letter today to 11th Judicial District Attorney General Coty Wamp, urging her to investigate and file criminal charges against those responsible.
According to the report, on July 24, 2024, a federal inspector found a live chicken trapped under a cage by both legs and asked the slaughterhouse’s superintendent to have the cage lifted to free the bird. Instead, a worker dropped the cage onto the bird’s legs, crushing them both. Once the cage was lifted, a supervisor held up the chicken for the inspector to see before hurling the injured bird onto a conveyor belt.
“At this hellhole for animals, a chicken already headed for slaughter spent their final moments in agony and fear as workers battered and flung them in full view of a federal inspector,” says PETA Vice President of Legal Advocacy Daniel Paden. “PETA is calling for a criminal investigation on behalf of this abused bird and urges everyone to help save animals from the horrors of the slaughterhouse by going vegan.”
PETA is pursuing charges under state law because federal officials haven’t prosecuted any inspected slaughterhouses for acts of abuse since at least 2007.
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 thinking of making the switch. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
PETA’s letter to Wamp follows.
January 8, 2025
The Honorable Coty Wamp
District Attorney General
11th Judicial District
Dear Ms. Wamp:
I’m writing to request that your office (and a law-enforcement agency, as you deem appropriate) investigate and file applicable criminal charges against the individuals responsible for mangling a chicken’s legs and then throwing her onto a conveyor belt at the Koch Foods LLC slaughterhouse located at 1826 Cappella St. in Chattanooga. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) documented the incident in the attached report, which the agency just made available to the public.
On July 24, 2024, an FSIS inspector found a “live bird … trapped under a cage … by both legs.” The inspector asked the slaughterhouse’s superintendent to have the cage lifted to free the chicken. “Instead,” the inspector wrote, a Koch Foods worker “dropped the cage onto the legs of the live bird. When the cage was lifted off the live bird … both legs were mangled.” A Koch Foods supervisor then “threw the bird” onto a conveyor belt, apparently to be hanged for slaughter.
FSIS’ simple report on the incident carries no criminal or civil penalties and doesn’t preempt criminal liability under state law for cruelty to animals. This conduct appears to violate TN Code § 39-14-202. Tennessee law affords this victim her only chance at a small measure of justice. We urge your office to seek it.
Thank you for your time and consideration and for the important work that you do.
Sincerely,
Daniel Paden
Vice President of Legal Advocacy
Cruelty Investigations Department
