KESQ.com News Services
A video made at a Norco egg ranch that showed hens apparently dying of infections and having their necks wrung was criticized Tuesday by a spokeswoman for the poultry industry as a "politically motivated effort" aimed at rallying support a measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Proposition 2 would set standards for confining certain farm animals, including chickens.
"We have every expectation that supporters of Prop. 2, including the Humane Society of the United States, a wealthy, Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group and the primary financial backers of Prop. 2, will undertake a major effort to use the video to promote Prop. 2," said Julie Buckner, a representative of Californians for SAFE Food, a coalition of business interests, farmers and veterinarians opposed to the change in the state's Health and Safety Code.
"This is a dubious, cynical, politically-motivated effort," Buckner said.
Chicago-based Mercy for Animals, a pro-vegan group, released the video, saying it showed daily activities in a warehouse-size chicken coop, identified as Norco Ranch on Mountain Avenue, during August and September.
In several scenes, an employee is shown wringing the necks of sick hens, then tossing their carcasses in a heap.
Other secretly-recorded video shows hens with open wounds in cramped cages, hens laying blood-stained eggs because of "collapsed uteruses," and hens wedging themselves between their cages and the egg conveyor belt, where they often die, according to the narrator.
Injured hens, "crippled and unable to walk, were deprived of food or water," the narrator says.
Some of the injured poultry were simply thrown into a pile, "left to die under a heap of rotting bodies," the video states.
Moark LLC, the ranch's owner, released a statement late today saying a preliminary investigation of the scenes documented at its Norco facility indicated "this was an isolated incident involving a single employee."
"The employee in question has been suspended pending further investigation," the statement said.
Moark emphasized that all of its facilities follow United Egg Producers' animal welfare guidelines, formulated by "independent animal welfare experts."
"We are regularly audited for compliance with guidelines for humane animal care and handling," the company stated. "We maintain thorough veterinary records and were... inspected by the County of Riverside during the same period in which the activist claims his videotape was shot."
The inspection yielded no negative findings, according to Moark.
It said employees are trained in proper hen handling practices and are required to report any violations of the company's code of conduct regarding animal treatment.
Buckner described the video as "irresponsible and misleading" and said it was "clearly... timed to influence the November election."
Proposition 2, the "Standards for Confining Farm Animals" initiative, would mandate that calves raised for veal, egg-laying hens and pregnant pigs be confined "only in ways that allow these animals to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely."
The Mercy for Animals video depicted chickens occupying cages with little space to maneuver, a practice the video producers alleged is conducive to illness, the spread of disease and premature death among hens.
Opponents of Proposition 2 argue that California egg producers use housing systems that comply with state regulations and significantly reduce the likelihood of Salmonella.
According to poultry industry officials, cage-free, egg-laying hens left to roam outdoors have a higher risk of exposure to avian flu and exotic Newcastle disease because they would come into contact with migratory birds.
"Let us be clear, Prop. 2 is well intended for farm animals, but has unintended negative consequences for people in California," said Buckner. "It puts family farmers out of business, drives up our food costs and compromises our food safety, increasing our exposure to Salmonella in eggs and other food from out of state and Mexico.
"In these stressful, uncertain economic times, California doesn't need any more problems."
LINKS:
Mercy for Animals video: http://www.mercyforanimals.org/norco/
