PETA Undercover Video: Turkeys Kicked and Hit “Humanely Certified” Wegmans Supplier

For immediate release:
August 17, 2021

Contact:
Moira Collie 202-483-7382

Rochester, NY “This is consumer fraud, with workers kicking, stomping, and hitting turkeys with a heavy stick and pretending to masturbate with a dying female — all captured on camera by a chain of“ humane ”certified bird farms for Pennsylvania. based Plainville Farms, a supplier of leading grocery stores, including Wegmans… The company is “certified” by the Global Animal Partnership (GAP) and declares to consumers that the turkeys it uses are “harmless,” and brags that its transportation is “convenient” and “stress-free” for birds – all of which PETA deemed to be false. The group also uses deliberately deceitful labels to mislead kind consumers.

A PETA researcher worked with teams that loaded turkeys into trucks heading for slaughter and found that every night on every farm, team members regularly kicked and trampled turkeys with all their might, including those who were sick, injured, and unable to walk. … … One position of the crew is even called “shock”, because it is the role of the person in loading. Two workers threw birds at each other for fun, and one held the trash bag open, like a basketball hoop, to throw birds at. The workers beat the turkeys with an iron bar and stood on their heads. They choked, crushed, and broke the birds’ necks before being thrown aside or thrown to the floor. The turkeys, still alive, convulsed and were left to die in great pain.

Instead of trying to stop the violence, one leader kicked the turkeys himself and repeatedly urged workers to bully them. He and other workers scolded the PETA investigator for not kicking the birds, but instead picking them up and grazing them calmly, even saying that he should “find a new job” as he would not do the “right” insulting the frightened birds. …

“Each turkey sandwich represents the pain and fear of a tender bird that has shown no kindness in its miserable life,” says PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman. “PETA reminds kind consumers that the only ‘humane’ food is vegan, and we are ready to help them transition.”

PETA is urging Wegmans to research its suppliers and highlight the many vegan options, and is also demanding that GAP radically change its certification program to ban labeling that is intended to defraud customers.

Broadcast quality videos are available here. PETA, whose motto is in part that “the animals are not ours to eat or otherwise abuse” – 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…