Food company requests firings after apparent animal abuse in Chilliwack

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CHILLIWACK (NEWS 1130) – Sofina Foods is responding to a disturbing undercover video, which appears to show workers at Elite Farm Services Ltd. abusing and torturing broiler chickens.

Elite, a licensed chicken-catching service, was hired to round up chickens for transport to the Lilydale/Sofina Foods Inc. slaughter plant in Port Coquitlam.

In a statement, Sofina Foods says they are “appalled and extremely shocked” by the video, which was was filmed by the non-profit group Mercy for Animals between May 10 and June 9.

The company says it has since contacted Elite, and “requested that all of the supplier’s employees involved in the abusive behaviours be dismissed immediately.”

One day after releasing the footage, Mercy for Animals is demanding “prosecution of the workers, managers, and companies responsible for this sadistic animal abuse.”

They’re also calling on the president of Loblaw “to take immediate action by adopting meaningful animal welfare policies to prohibit the extreme animal abuse documented in the video.”

Marcie Moriarty with the SCPA calls it some of the worst abuse she’s ever seen.

She says the video shows workers dismembering and killing, throwing, kicking and hitting the birds and forcing the animals into violent sexual acts with one another.

“The images in this video are absolutely sickening and the individual employees and the companies involved need to be held accountable,” she says.

“The video includes some of the most brutal and sadistic acts of violence against animals I have ever seen,” said Moriarty. “It is extremely difficult to watch.”

“We will be putting our report to Crown counsel together as quickly as possible and will be recommending multiple charges of animal cruelty under both the Criminal Code of Canada and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.”

If convicted, the individuals and companies involved in this latest investigation face a fine up to $75,000, a maximum five-year jail sentence and up to a life-time ban on owning or being around animals.

NEWS 1130 has reached out to Elite Farm Services for comment.

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