Most Popular Videos Featured On KDKA.com
Nov 17, 2009 8:47 pm US/Eastern
Pennsylvania Pig Farm Under Fire
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
-
-
A member of Mercy For Animals went undercover to record video of the treatment of pigs at a farm in Pennsylvania.
KDKA
One of Pennsylvania's largest pig farms is coming under fire for allegedly mistreating the animals.
Mercy For Animals used hidden cameras to record the alleged acts of cruelty toward the pigs and released the footage at a press conference on Tuesday.
The footage, taken earlier this year, showed pigs being hit with metal spikes, gassed and thrown across rooms among other things.
According to a press release from the group, Country View Family Farms supplies the pigs to Hatfield Quality Meats, which is a supplier to Giant, Pathmark, Wal-Mart and other major chain grocery stores.
The group showed the footage to a Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California.
According to the press release, Dr. Nedim Buyukmihci said: "I can state unequivocally that the pigs in this facility suffered immensely. What I witnessed in this video was shocking in its brutality and callousness."
"We have reviewed the video and the high standards we have for how hogs are handled appear to have been violated," Dr. Jessica Clark, a spokesperson for the company, said in a statement.
The company believes it was an isolated incident. Either way, Country View Family Farms says it does not condone the mishandling of animals and have taken steps to correct the problem.
"Like I said, we began the investigation as soon as we heard about the allegations. We talked to our team members, also the team members of all of our farms and began retraining of our best management practices," Clark said in a telephone interview.
The company says a new supervisor will be responsible for day-to-day animal care on the farm and employees are encouraged to use a hotline to report any animal abuse.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Latest 5-Day Forecast
Click to enlarge
New Winter Storm Moves Into Pittsburgh Area 27 mins ago 
Stumble It!
Comments