# Live chickens as footballs? WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347 "2004-07-22T14:59:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/1 "2004-07-22T14:59:23Z")
Let me start this post by saying that i recognize that many people on these message boards have considerable contempt for PETA (people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). While i agree with many of PETA’s positions, i think that their tactics are often stupid and extremely counterproductive. Having said that, i defy anyone of to watch [this video](http://www.petatv.com/tvpopup/Prefs.asp?video=pilgrims_web) and claim that uncovering these abuses was a bad thing. I know they’re “only chickens,” but the idea that people can be so barbaric toward _any_ animals is pretty fucking depressing. For those who don’t want to watch, [here’s](http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=5737123) some of the backstory from Reuters: > [@](#): > > Pilgrim’s Pride, the poultry processor embarrassed after a video from an animal rights group showed workers stomping and kicking live chickens, said on Wednesday it had fired 11 employees at its Moorfield, West Virginia where the abuse took place. > > The company said it dismissed one superintendent, a supervisor, one foreman, and eight hourly employees following an investigation it began on Tuesday after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals released the video. > > The videotape documented animal abuses over an eight-month period that ended in May and was made by an undercover investigator for PETA. > > The tape, which showed workers at the plant ripping off birds’ beaks and stomping and kicking live chickens, was shown on national television as well as on the PETA Web site, prompting the Pittsburgh, Texas-based company to launch an investigation and place monitors at the plant. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/2 "2004-07-22T15:11:55Z")
I was wondering, given the anti-PeTA malevolence on these boards, whether a thread on this topic was going to appear. ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/3 "2004-07-22T15:24:58Z")
This a perfect example of PETA continually shoots themselves in the foot. In this case, they have an honest-to-God real case of wanton and despicable animal cruelty that should be causing outrage. Because it’s PETA though, some people dismiss or underplay it without even looking at the evidence. As to the OP, disgusting and outrageous. I mean, I didn’t think the chicken on my grill died of old age, but this is way beyond any acceptable animal slaughtering practices. We’ll see how Pilgrim’s PRide handles this (they’ve already fired the people in the video) before I suggest any action on them. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/4 "2004-07-22T15:29:12Z")
They probably pushed to hard to take the time to wring there necks good. Or were never taught. Chickens can move around after their neck wrung anyway. Never heard of “running around like a chicken with its head cut off?” Blunt trauma is popular way to kill almost dead rabbits when hunting (throw them hard on the ground). They were probably just trying make sure that they were dead. The tradgedy here is Pilgrims Pride cowtowing to nutcase animal rights lunatics who would actually be disturbed by this. The abuse here is the firing of employees by Pilgrims Pride. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/5 "2004-07-22T15:35:26Z")
Didn’t watch the video as I don’t care for scenes of animal cruelty (despite the fact that I eat the suckers left and right). That scene in Willie Wonka still gets to me. Are chickens still killed in large quantities by hand-wringing their necks? I figured they were in a large contraption that cut off their heads one by one before sending them down the line to be de-feathered and all. If so, I don’t think you can defend the workers with that arguement. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/6 "2004-07-22T15:50:47Z")
I’m not for sure. I’m around game chickens and anyone killing them, due to injury or just culling, like these folks were would get their asses chewed out for being mean. But these birds are treasured athletes, not supper for millions of people. But due to the quality of the video and lack of background on the situation, I can’t tell? But the fact of life is that with eating cheap chickens it means their going to treated like vegetables in a field are. ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/7 "2004-07-22T15:55:41Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > They probably pushed to hard to take the time to wring there necks good. Or were never taught. Chickens can move around after their neck wrung anyway. Never heard of “running around like a chicken with its head cut off?” Blunt trauma is popular way to kill almost dead rabbits when hunting (throw them hard on the ground). They were probably just trying make sure that they were dead. > > The tradgedy here is Pilgrims Pride cowtowing to nutcase animal rights lunatics who would actually be disturbed by this. > > The abuse here is the firing of employees by Pilgrims Pride. Are you joking or just stupid? I’ve seen the video. Jumping up and down repeatedly on chickens in blunt trauma? I think you are either putting us on or too far gone to be convinced. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/8 "2004-07-22T16:12:39Z")
> [@vanilla](#): > > Are you joking or just stupid? > I’ve seen the video. > Jumping up and down repeatedly on chickens in blunt trauma? > I think you are either putting us on or too far gone to be convinced. Neither. Jumping up and down is blunt trauma. I know. I’ve been jumped up down on. I’ve killed mice that way a place I used to work when one would scurry across the shop floor. Jumping up and down on chickens isn’t the way to kill them. You wring their neck, cut their head off, or break their neck by stepping on their head and pulling their body. And even while dead, some will flop around like crazy. I really don’t think that these guys were trained well. It’s a shame that Pilgrims Pride caved to lunatic organization and human beings were harmed (fired). ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/9 "2004-07-22T16:18:10Z")
So it WAS company policy to teach their workers to stomp chickens IF they didn’t die right away? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/10 "2004-07-22T16:53:13Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > I’m not for sure. I’m around game chickens and anyone killing them, due to injury or just culling, like these folks were would get their asses chewed out for being mean. But these birds are treasured athletes, not supper for millions of people. Well, personally, i think an objection to animal cruelty should be based on the suffering of the animal, not on the animal’s particular use value to human beings. Is it your contention that birds used for food somehow suffer less that “treasured athlete” birds, if subjected to the same treatment? And it’s not blunt trauma that i’m objecting to. Blunt trauma, if properly applied, can be an effective way to render an animal dead or unconscious in preparation for processing into food. But blunt trauma improperly applied leads to pain and suffering on the part of the animal. Even if you’re only concerned about humans, this treatment should worry you, because it also leads to meat of reduced quality. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/11 "2004-07-22T17:03:55Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > I really don’t think that these guys were trained well. :rolleyes: The idea that the employees were trying to practice humane killing skills like they were backwoods huntsmen is a joke. This is a **processing** plant. No modern chicken processing plant relies on guys stomping on the product! Proper processing involves stunning the trussed chicken, usually by electric shock by emersion in a live pool of water, before it is killed. If this plant is so screwed up that the employees need, as common practice, to kick and stomp on chickens then the whole place should be put out of business as cruel, inefficient and a health risk. ---
**Author:** ![booka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@booka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booka)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/12 "2004-07-22T17:29:36Z")
My usual reaction is to immediately dismiss anything that PETA has to say. In this case, I think they’ve done a good thing by bringing this to light. I’m a meat-eatin’ mofo, but this video goddamn pissed me off. Truth be told, it kinda freaked me out. I looked down at my pug sleeping at my feet, and reminded myself that, while chickens aren’t as far up on the evolutionary scale as dogs, this treatment is wrong. It’s just so wrongheaded. Fuckers they are - pure and simple. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/13 "2004-07-22T17:42:29Z")
I am clearly against the Cult of PETA, but chicken stomping as a way to kill the chickens is unacceptable. The company did the right thing by firing the employees, but it is too bad that it took some cultists to see the error of their methods before they did anything about it. It just emboldens them (cultists) to continue their radical ways under a slight shred of legitimacy. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/14 "2004-07-22T18:50:27Z")
I have been meaning to ask on GQ for some time now, do people who work in slaughterhouses go nuts? It is a boring repetitious job to begin with, plus killing all day must impact on your personality in some way. Has this ever been studied? Are these folks unbalanced? (Yes, I have killed a few animals in my time, I have shot at people too, I am referring to spending years doing it.) ---
**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/15 "2004-07-22T19:21:35Z")
I think that **Paul in Saudi** has hit the nail on the head. Being a slaughter house worker must be an utterly shit job and probably attracts people who aren’t exactley the full ticket to start with, coupled with the fact that it must desensitize you to death then you have a recipe for cruel practices. Doesn’t make them any less nasty but I think that is why this sort of thing happens. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/16 "2004-07-22T19:47:33Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > The tradgedy here is Pilgrims Pride cowtowing to nutcase animal rights lunatics who would actually be disturbed by this. > > The abuse here is the firing of employees by Pilgrims Pride. Are you for real? I am no animal rights activist, let alone a nutcase one. I’m a meat consumer, and while I try to make sure to buy as much free range products as I can, I’ve been known to deviate from that path as well. But anyone who sees this video and labels it as acceptable behaviour needs to get their fucking head examined. I say this with virtually no knowledge of PETA, good or bad. I just watched the video, and made up my _own_ mind. I grew up in a small agricultural town, and even killed the odd chicken or two myself. Cutting a chicken’s head off is swift - the animal feels no pain, and dies within seconds. This. Is. Animal. Cruelty. ---
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/17 "2004-07-22T19:55:32Z")
Hey, everyone’s blaming the workers. How do we know the chickens didn’t start it? Perhaps they should have pulled over rather than leading their persuers through a dangerous low speed chase through the factory. And when they are cornered and asked to spread eagle, what do they do? Comply? No. They start trying to fly! Sure, you and I can figure out that chickens can’t fly, but what if you’re caught up in the heat of the moment, adrenaline rushing through your veins, no time to think, just to react. Would you have reacted any differently? It’s so easy to second guess people, but if you were fearing for your safety or the safety of innocent bystanders, you might have reacted the same way yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/18 "2004-07-22T20:06:46Z")
Gotta go with the majority on this one. It’s a pretty sick thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/19 "2004-07-22T20:35:27Z")
PETA types make me nuts, but in this case, they’ve got a point. Some things are just unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347/20 "2004-07-22T20:50:46Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > It is a boring repetitious job to begin with, plus killing all day must impact on your personality in some way. Has this ever been studied? Are these folks unbalanced? There was an interesting article in the NY Times about a woman who designs slaugherhouses (for cows) which mentioned that mondern practice is to frequently rotate workers from actual killing roles to other jobs, because they had noticed a range of emotional problems. I think these emotional problems included depression, anger control issues, and desensitisation to violence, but not actual psychosis or violent rages (like stomping on chickens). So, yes, there might be some connection - but probably not enough to explain this incident. I can’t find the article in question, or I would tell you more. Maybe you should start that GQ. mischievous [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-chickens-as-footballs-wtf/256347.md?page=2)