A Weakley County poultry farm lost its contract with Tyson Foods and McDonalds after an undercover video purported abuse of the chickens. A Mercy For Animals video revealed birds being painfully beaten, stabbed, and impaled by makeshift clubs. Mercy for Animals’ Matt Rice said s an investigator was at T&S Farms in Dukedom, Tennessee for three weeks before handing over their footage to the local officials, who have now taken the lead in the investigation.
“Kentucky and Tennessee have some of the worst laws to protect farmed animals. And Tennessee has whats called a “common farming exemption” which means that if the factory farming industry says a practice is okay, no matter how cruel it is, like mutilating animals without pain killers for example, it is automatically deemed legal.” Rice said.
The owners of the farm, did not return a voicemail message asking for comment. Tyson Foods issued a statement saying the company has launched its own investigation, but has terminated the farmer's contract to grow chickens. Tyson says an estimated 125,000 birds have been removed from the farm's barns.
