Whistleblower Reveals Why US Chickens Are Washed Down With Chlorine

A whistleblower who once worked for the 2nd largest chicken producer in the U.S. has come forward to tell the world about the birds’ horrible living conditions. He also sheds light on the reason why the overwhelming majority of US chicken producers wash the poultry in chlorine before putting it on the market.

Yes, chlorine. You know, like swimming pools.

According to the whistleblower, ex-North Carolina chicken farmer Craig Watts, tens of thousands of ultra-plump birds are stuffed into oversized warehouses, where they are so fat their legs buckle under their own weight. The chickens, which can reach 9 lbs., are not exposed to natural light and often die before they reach maturity. Many of them are covered in their own feces. [1]

This, the whistleblower claims, is why 97% of American chickens are washed in chlorine after they are slaughtered, though there is no legal requirement to do so.

Watts said:

“The birds are too heavy to stand because they have been bred for breast meat and nothing else, so they spend their lives squatting. It’s like 2 toothpicks sticking out of a grape.

They spend 95% of their time sitting on the litter, a mixture of pine shavings and fecal matter from that flock and prior flocks.”

It gets worse. Watts says the birds’ living conditions are so cramped, they injure one another just moving about the warehouse.

“Their flesh would rot, and when you have them crammed in so tight, they will walk over other birds if they want to get to the food or scratch the others and cause a wound. It is awful.” [2]

Watts said he quit the poultry business over the inhumane conditions, some of which was documented in shocking video footage filmed at 2 Pilgrim’s Pride facilities in Hull, Georgia. Chickens can be seen being tossed about by farm workers, and collapsing under their own weight. The owner of the farm can be seen bludgeoning the animals to death with a metal rod.  Chickens are pictured being violently shackled down and punched. [3]

We’ve included the video, but be warned; it is very difficult to watch.

After the Human Society of Georgia exposed the abuse, Pilgrim’s Pride said in a statement:

“Ensuring the well-being of the chickens under our care is an uncompromising commitment at Pilgrim’s.

This isolated incident of of unacceptable behavior does not reflect our approach to animal welfare or the approach of the more than 4,000 family farm partners who interact with our chickens daily.” [1]

America’s chicken farmers are under immense pressure to produce. Nearly all of them are contracted with major corporations like Pilgrim’s Pride, who supply them with chicks, feed, and equipment.

What the farmers can and cannot do depends on the firms’ regulations, and they are paid based on a “tournament system” that pits farmers against one another. The farmer who produces the most meat with the least feed “wins,” while the farmer who produces less will have money deducted from his pay. [3]

The payment system basically encourages farmers to cut corners, resulting in crueler, less hygienic living conditions for the chickens.

According to Jim Sumner, president of the US Poultry & Egg Export Council, US chickens are treated humanely, and chlorine-washing is only done as an added measure of safety which protects against food-borne illnesses.

Sumner said:

“Sometimes these [animal welfare] organizations do not have a thorough understanding of the process or scientific facts.”

But the fact that we have to chlorinate chicken before it can be eaten certainly seems to suggest that the living conditions inside farms may be as unhealthy for humans as they are for the livestock.

A senior policy analyst at the US Center for Food Safety, Jaydee Hanson said:

“These chemicals are basically like the ones we put in our toilets to clean them. The question is, why are chickens so contaminated in the first place?  And the issue is that we are not doing a good job of raising chickens.”

Sources:

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About Julie Fidler:
	Julie Fidler is a freelance writer, legal blogger, and the author of Adventures in Holy Matrimony: For Better or the Absolute Worst. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two ridiculously spoiled cats. She occasionally pontificates on her blog.

BREAKING: Ringling Bros. Circus to Close After 146 Years and Numerous Allegations of Abuse & Neglect

After 146 years of animal performances, clowns, and side shows, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will stop all performances — forever — as of May.

A number of factors contributed to the monumental decision, including decreased attendance, changing public perceptions, and ongoing battles with animal rights groups — multiple instances of abuse by trainers behind the scenes have plagues the world famous performance production company for years.

“There isn’t any one thing,” said Feld Entertainment CEO Kenneth Feld noted, having told startled employees Saturday night after performances in Orlando and Miami. “This has been a very difficult decision for me and for the entire family.”

Circuses have, quite simply, faded from favor — however bittersweet the nostalgic connotations.

“Ringling Bros. has two touring circuses this season and will perform 30 shows between now and May. Major stops include Atlanta, Washington, Philadelphia, Boston and Brooklyn. The final shows will be in Providence, Rhode Island, on May 7 and in Uniondale, New York, at the Nassau County Coliseum on May 21,” the Washington Post reported.

Since the mid-1800s, Barnum and Bailey has been somewhat of a household name, entertaining generations with trained elephants, sequined acrobats, clowns, tigers, and various other shows — but, for decades now, the circus has faced sharp criticism over its treatment of exotic, captive animals and the ethics of holding and training endangered and threatened species.

As the Post further explains, “Phineas Taylor Barnum made a traveling spectacle of animals and human oddities popular, while the five Ringling brothers performed juggling acts and skits from their home base in Wisconsin. Eventually, they merged and the modern circus was born. The sprawling troupes traveled around America by train, wowing audiences with the sheer scale of entertainment and exotic animals.”

But it was the treatment of those exotic animals that began to give Barnum & Bailey an horrific reputation for abuse of species endangered in the wild. A number of videos evidencing force and abuse by trainers that soured the public to circuses and animal performances years ago.

Indeed, there has been a general move away from circuses, zoos, and other entities who rely on animal captivity to make a profit, as the public learns what happens behind the scenes. While some of these businesses might be well-intentioned, ‘training’ wild animals to bend to the will of humans demands a degree of force not deemed acceptable by today’s standards.

While Ringling Bros. wasn’t entirely built around animal performances by any stretch, contention over the issue has grown exponentially in recent years — as it has for many entities in the animal captivity business. Sea World, in fact, has faced similar criticism over orca and dolphin performances seen by many as bending animal nature to the whims of human entertainment — and has been forced to cease captive breeding after public outrage.

Although the Post explains the move toward electronic forms of entertainment — first television, and now smart phones, video games, and computers — greatly reduced the appeal of the circus, that expansion included the wide availability of information, and whistleblower videos exposed the circus as a repeat abuser behind the glitzy scenes.

With diminishing crowds and growing negative perception — and an inability to sustain sufficient ticket sales under increasing overhead — the so-called Greatest Show on Earth has been left little choice but to cease operations.

As Feld sees it, lessening attention spans hindered attendance as well, “The competitor in many ways is time,” he told the Post, speaking of both shortened attention and the entertainment of a bygone era. “It’s a different model that we can’t see how it works in today’s world to justify and maintain an affordable ticket price. So you’ve got all these things working against it.”

He added, “Try getting a 3- or 4-year-old today to sit for 12 minutes.”

In 1967, the Feld family purchased the circus, which had performances just under three hours. Now, shows last two hours and seven minutes — about the length of an average Hollywood movie — but audiences have been increasingly unenthused.

However, these factors don’t compare to growing outrage concerning animal rights and abuse — even among ordinary people unaffiliated with such movements, as has been the case for Sea World and its treatment of killer whales.

Animal performances — forced captivity and physically abusive training methods — no longer slip under the radar with an increasingly aware and concerned public.

“After 36 years of PETA protests,” Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said after the announcement of the circus closure, “which have awoken the world to the plight of animals in captivity, PETA heralds the end of what has been the saddest show on earth for wild animals, and asks all other animal circuses to follow suit, as this is a sign of changing times.”

However, as the Post notes, “In May of 2016, after a long and costly legal battle, the company removed the elephants from the shows and sent the animals to live on a conservation farm in Central Florida. The animals had been the symbol of the circus since Barnum brought an Asian elephant named Jumbo to America in 1882. In 2014, Feld Entertainment won $25.2 million in settlements from groups including the Humane Society of the United States, ending a 14-year fight over allegations that circus employees mistreated elephants.

“By the time the elephants were removed, public opinion had shifted somewhat. Los Angeles prohibited the use of bull-hooks by elephant trainers and handlers, as did Oakland, California. The city of Asheville, North Carolina nixed wild or exotic animals from performing in the municipally owned, 7,600-seat U.S. Cellular Center.”

Apparently the elephants represented to the public both a cornerstone of circus magic and the epitome of useless abuse — even earning the snide moniker, the Cruelest Show on Earth — and attendance dropped dramatically. Sea World experienced the same phenomenon over its captivity and performances by orcas, or killer whales.

It would seem, in other words, the public has finally spoken — and private businesses, once hugely profitable, have responded — it matters not how glitzy the package, the manipulation of wild animals for entertainment purposes is no longer acceptable.

Ringling Bros., the once-glorified cornerstone of entertainment in America, will now draw the curtains for the final time.

Cop Arrested for Using Police PC to Post ‘Bestiality’ Video Of Himself Raping Small Dog

Houston, TX — Harris County Sheriff’s deputy Andrew C. Sustaita Jr. is due in court this week to face some truly disturbing charges. The six-year veteran of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office is accused of raping a small dog, taking the video, and then posting the video online with a police department computer. So far, the only crime that Sustaita is charged with is obscenity, a felony. However, it is possible that he will receive more charges after appearing in court.

Surprisingly, Sustaita was fired immediately after the arrest, so the evidence against him must be substantial. Otherwise, the department would have delayed his termination.

The Sheriff’s Office High Tech Crime Unit was tipped off that video of a man raping a small dog was posted from a police department account. Eventually, Sustaita was named as the suspect, but the Harris County Sheriff’s Office has refused to release any details or comment further on the case.

Sheriff Ed Gonzalez had only this to say on behalf of the department:

“The possession of obscene and illicit material is made even more troubling when a Sheriff’s Office employee is found to be involved. Every resource of this office will be dedicated to protecting the public and holding our employees accountable for wrongdoing.”

The deputy comes from a law enforcement family, and they say they are waiting for more information. His father says he is devastated to hear this allegation, and that his son is a hard worker and he is reacting like any father would.

Despite the heinous crime of which he is allegedly responsible, many mainstream media sources felt the need to mention that they interviewed one of his friends who told them that he was “an honorable and committed family man.”

Would a news source ever consider printing such a thing about a person filming themselves having sex with a dog if the suspect did not work for the government in the capacity of a police officer?

When cops kill innocent people, local news stations, with the help of police, are quick to dredge up whatever mistakes they’ve made in the past to assassinate that person’s character in an attempt to downplay the killing. The glaring difference is insulting, to say the least.

Oddly enough, this is not an isolated incident. Robert Melia Jr. was sworn to protect and serve, but a Burlington County jury found he abandoned that oath when he and his former girlfriend filmed themselves repeatedly molesting teenagers. During the investigation, it was discovered that Melia had also filmed himself having sex with multiple cows.

John Vibes is an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. He also has a publishing company where he offers a censorship free platform for both fiction and non-fiction writers. You can contact him and stay connected to his work at his Facebook page. John is currently battling cancer naturally, without any chemo or radiation, and will be working to help others through his experience, if you wish to contribute to his treatments please donate here.