10 months ago
TURNER (NEWS CENTER) -- A Turner egg farm cited years ago for human rights and labor violations involving its migrant workers, is now under investigation for allegations of animal abuse. A non-profit group called Mercy For Animals released undercover footage taken inside Quality Egg of New England. Quality Egg is the former Decoster Egg Farm. An investigator with the animal right's group applied for a job and was hired by the farm. He arrived at work wired with a hidden camera. The tape he shot shows workers swinging hens around by their necks and kicking them. Birds trapped by their wire cages. And live birds sitting in trash cans with no food or water. "Our investigator witnessed time after time, employees and supervisors throwing live birds away into trash cans, over 49 instances of this abuse", said Mercy For Animal's Nathan Runkle. Bob Leclrec, the farm's compliance manager, says he was shocked and surprised by what he saw on the tape "What this report showed was totally improper and abhorrent, not something that we tolerate, not something that we see very often and when we do see it we don't get a repeat of it", he said. Leclerc says he was surprised because an inspector from the State Department of Agriculture spends 40-hours a week in the barns with unlimited access and has never mentioned any concerns. He says disciplinary is being taken against the workers involved.
