Disturbing footage of Butterball workers allegedly sexually abusing turkeys has been resurfaced ahead of Thanksgiving by animal rights activists pushing for a boycott.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) posted a compilation of clips from a Butterball slaughterhouse in Ozark, Arkansas, on Instagram and claimed that some workers even bragged about their abuse.
Intermingled in black-and-white footage of workers interacting with turkeys is an anonymous narrator who says he went into the ‘Butterball House of Horrors’ to show the public what the company will not.
‘One guy humped a shackled turkey one day and another time another worker was putting his fingers in a turkey’s cloaca which is basically her vagina, while the line was stopped,’ says the man in the post from Friday.
‘When people go to the grocery store and they see Butterball or other turkeys all wrapped up in plastic, they just don’t know what happens to the birds before they end up in the meat case.’
Butterball has since responded that the video was from ‘nearly 20 years ago’ and that it maintains a ‘zero-tolerance policy for animal mistreatment’.
‘This video is not current and was taken prior to Butterball becoming a private company and prior to our engagement and certification through American Humane,’ a company spokesperson stated.
‘Animal care and well-being is central to who we are as a company, and we are committed to the ethical and responsible care of our flocks.’
Butterball added that it was the first turkey company to be certified by American Humane and remains the only one with that designation.
‘That means we have yearly audits conducted by a third party to ensure compliance with our 200+ science-based standards of best practice for care of turkeys, well exceeding industry best practices,’ said the company.
Rumors have been circulating that there is a recall of Butterball turkeys, but there have been no indications that is true.
Meanwhile, PETA is planning to bring its ‘Hell on Wheels’ turkey truck covered with images of birds crammed in crates, to Janssen’s Market in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday to send a message to Thanksgiving shoppers.
‘If even one person sees this video and stops eating birds,’ the anonymous man said in the Instagram post, ‘It would be worth it’
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