Chickens kicked, thrown, and slammed into cages. Animals writhing on the ground in pain. Horrible acts of cruelty committed against helpless beings. And all of it was caught on video.
Today, we bring you our new investigation, conducted by an undercover investigator working with a Foster Farms chicken catching crew in California. Sadly, it confirms that cruelty is not an exception in animal agriculture—it’s the rule. Despite the fact that animal suffering and cruelty is a daily occurrence at animal ag facilities around the country, we were shaken by the level of harsh displays of cruelty forced upon the animals at this facility.
While working with the crew, our investigator documented numerous instances of Foster Farms employees running over chickens with forklifts and roughly throwing them into transport cages, and injured chickens were left to suffer instead of being euthanized. The cruelty was so pervasive that we couldn’t include all the footage in our release video. It wasn’t just the workers; managers and supervisors were also caught on camera kicking and throwing chickens. In many cases, chickens had their cage doors slammed closed on them, painfully trapping their wings, legs, or heads in the process.
The conditions were appalling. At some facilities, the chickens lived on the muddy ground in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. Dead animals were discarded in piles infested with maggots, with live chickens standing on top. The combination of these harsh conditions, coupled with grueling overnight shifts lasting up to 18 hours, likely impaired the workers' abilities, leading to even more suffering for the chickens. Even after a forklift crash, Foster Farms did not address the harm that forklift operation can and did cause countless animals. It’s clear that multibillion dollar corporation Foster Farms relies upon this cruel treatment of animals as a way of doing business.
Top left: A worker holds a chicken by their fragile leg
Top right: A worker carelessly throws three chickens at a metal transport crate
Bottom left: Chickens covered in mud and dirt are shoved into metal transport crates
Bottom right: A frightened chicken is subjected to the cruelty of the transport process
Each year in the U.S., nearly nine billion chickens are slaughtered for their meat. These chickens, bred for rapid growth, are often killed as young as six weeks old. As Animal Outlook’s previous investigations have repeatedly uncovered, their short lives are marked by pain and suffering. Our investigations have revealed egregious cruelty, untreated illness and injury, birds unable to walk or stand due to their unnatural size, and deplorable living conditions, often with a lack of basic necessities like food and water.
In response to these findings of widespread cruelty, Animal Outlook has presented the video and legal analysis to the Fresno County District Attorney's office, requesting that criminal animal cruelty charges be filed against those responsible, including Foster Farms as a corporation. We argue that these harsh conditions and actions are not isolated incidents but are indicative of a system-wide issue: cruelty is a standard business practice at Foster Farms.
You can fight back against farmed animal cruelty by refusing to support it - by eliminating animals from your plate and encouraging others to do the same. The animal agriculture industry does not care about these animals, so it’s up to each of us to be their hero by taking a stand against cruel corporations like Foster Farms.
Together, we can continue to expose the cruelty embedded in the animal agriculture industry. Your support directly fuels undercover investigations, legal actions, and outreach campaigns that bring these injustices to light and drive real change toward a vegan world.
With gratitude,
Cheryl Leahy
Executive Director
P.S. Animal Outlook never stops trying to end cruelty for farmed animals. To help us defend animals like the ones at Foster Farms, consider setting up a monthly gift today. Your monthly support is the most reliable resource we have to plan for the future of saving animals.
As a non-profit organization, Animal Outlook relies on donations from caring, generous people like you. Every dollar matters. Your support makes a world of difference to farmed animals.
