For immediate release:
April 6, 2021
Contact:
Nicole Meyer 202-483-7382
Jefferson County, Georgia. – Following the receipt of USDA filings revealing that about 25,644 chickens were kept in trucks without food for two nights in a coastal processing near Louisville – and that about 300 were found dead – PETA sent a letter to Jefferson County attorney Dalton this morning D. Daoudi a request to initiate a criminal case and related charges in accordance with the legislation of Georgia on cruelty to animals.
The documents reveal additional violations of federal law in offshore processing. Federal officers saw live chickens scalded and drowned to death on three different days and found that the worker who was to cut the birds’ throats had so much blood covering their facemasks that it was difficult for them to identify the chickens still alive. Federal officers also found a chicken that was strangled and crushed in a pile of dead birds on the floor, and another live chicken in a basket of dead birds.
“These reports show that birds are starving in trucks, drowning in boiling water and suffocating under the bodies of other chickens,” says PETA senior vice president Daphne Nachminovic. “PETA encourages everyone who still eats chickens to remember the slow, horrific death of these birds – and opt for vegan food instead.”
PETA, whose motto is in part that “the animals are not ours to eat” – opposes arrogance, a worldview focused on human superiority. For more information please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…
PETA Daudi’s letter follows.
April 6, 2021
The Honorable Dalton D. Daudi
Jefferson County Attorney
Dear Mr. Daudi:
We are asking your office (and local law enforcement if you deem appropriate) to investigate and bring appropriate criminal charges against Coastal Processing, LLC and workers responsible for denying food to 25,644 chickens for approximately 48 hours – nearly 300 of them are leaving died – in January 2020 at her slaughterhouse, located at 1670 Forstmann Road, near Louisville. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has documented the incident in the attached report, which PETA has just received from open sources upon request.
The chickens arrived at the slaughterhouse on January 25, according to the report, but drainage problems at the plant slowed down slaughter operations. Rather than returning them to farms, Coastal Processing employees allegedly decided to keep more than 25,000 animals on seven trucks on their premises before slaughtering them on January 27. In the past 48 hours, the chickens were denied food and at least 286 were later found dead, according to an FSIS veterinarian.
Such conduct may violate Georgia Code § 16-12-4 (b) (2). FSIS action shows that such disregard does not constitute agricultural and food processing practices permitted by federal or state law that are otherwise exempt from prosecution. It is important to note that FSIS action does not override state criminal liability for slaughterhouses or their employees who commit acts of cruelty to animals.
Please let us know how we can help you. Thank you for your attention and for the hard work you are doing.
Sincerely,
Daniel Paden
Vice President of Evidence Analysis
Abuse Investigation Department