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Chicken Slaughterhouse Cruelty Case in West Virginia

Prosecutors in West Virginia announced they will not pursue charges against Pilgrim's Pride employees who were the focus of a 7-month undercover PETA investigation. Workers were caught on video stomping on chickens, kicking them, and violently slamming them against floors and walls. Workers also ripped the birds' beaks off, twisted their heads off, spat tobacco into their eyes and mouths, spray painted their faces, and squeezed their bodies so hard that the birds expelled feces - all while the chickens were still alive. (www.peta.org/feat/moorefield)

Though 11 workers were fired from the plant after release of the video, county prosecutor Ginny Conley decided to drop the case, stating: "After reviewing the evidence and conferring with other prosecutors, I've made the decision the incident does not rise to the level of a criminal investigation due to the fact that these were chickens in a slaughterhouse."

However, the sadistic torture of the chickens shown on tape constitutes felonious violations of West Virginia's animal cruelty statute, and activists are pursuing felony charges.

The chickens need all the calls, letters, and faxes we can muster.

• Please contact the prosecutor who decided not to file charges in this case and ask that she reconsider and file felony cruelty to animals charges against all those responsible for the torture of chickens at Pilgrim's Pride in Moorefield, West Virginia. Please write respectful letters to:

  Ginny Conley, Acting Executive Director
  West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute
  90 MacCorkle Avenue SW, Suite 202
  South Charleston, WV 25303
  Phone: 304-424-1776
  Fax: 304-558-3360
  Email: ginnyconley@woodcountywv.com

• Please also contact the governor of West Virginia and politely ask that he use his full authority to ensure that a special prosecutor is appointed, as requested by the judge in this case.

  Governor Joe Manchin
  Office of the Governor
  State Capitol Complex
  900 Kanawha Boulevard, E.
  Charleston, WV 25305
  Phone: 304-558-2000 (outside WV)
  Phone: 1-888-438-2731 (within WV)
  Fax: 304-558-2722 or 304-558-1962
  Email: Governor@WVGov.org