Animal Cruelty at Maine Farm
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An animal rights group discovers animal abuse and cruelty at Turner Egg Farm (in Turner, Maine), where hens are raised to lay eggs for the company, Eggland’s Best or Quality Egg.

Mercy for Animals started their undercover investigation in December 2008. The investigation got started because of a man who applied for a job there and discovered the animal cruelty. He has worked at three egg farms for Mercy for Animals. His identity is protected, but we will call him Ron. Maine Contract Farming houses approximately 4 million hens. Ron worked from December to February for minimum wage for 10 hour days. As an egg runner he was responsible for cleaning eggs, sorting eggs, fixing belt jams, and pulling dead hens from cages.

The hens are in cages the size of file cabinets, unable to walk or spread their wings. The video from the investigation is more than disturbing. Employees can be seen grabbing hens by their necks and spinning their bodies until their neck breaks. This is to kill hens, even though they do not die immediately. The hens are then kicked into manure pits. When Ron complained about this he was told not to worry about it. Hens are left to die on the floor, in manure pits, in trash cans along with other dead hens, and more. Inspectors for the Department of Agriculture Animal Welfare Division found Hens were also found to be suffering from broken bones, open wounds, and infections, as well as dead hens left to rot with the live hens still producing eggs for human consumption. This animal cruelty was done on a daily basis.

Mercy for Animals has asked supermarkets and distributors to stop selling eggs that come from Turner Egg Farm in Maine. The farm is currently under state investigations. Quality Egg used to be called DeCoster Egg Farm. Apparently, the name was changed because DeCoster Egg Farm was allegedly violating human rights and hiring undocumented workers.

The video captured is highly disturbing. This is the link (https://exceptionmag.com/politics/advocacy/000559/video-brought-down-quality-egg-turner-maine) to see it, but be warned.

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