No charges in chicken cruelty case
Prosecutor says incident was disturbing, but not criminal
Tuesday, January 11, 2005 Posted: 11:44 PM EST (0444 GMT)



MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (AP) -- Former workers at a processing plant who were caught on tape allegedly kicking, stomping and slamming chickens against a wall will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Ginny Conley, head of a state prosecutors' organization, said that while the incident at the Pilgrims Pride plant in Moorefield was disturbing, it does not warrant criminal charges because "these were chickens in a slaughterhouse." The plant serves as a supplier to KFC restaurants.



So, because these were just chickens, it doesn't matter that they were kicked and stomped and slammed against a wall till they died? If they were cats or dogs, maybe they would merit having the ex-employees charged? So what's the difference? Chickens aren't cuddly enough? Is the prosecutor afraid that people will really give a second thought to the whole issue and stop eating chicken? People don't give a shit. That's what it comes down to.

And here's something else funny. At a meat processing plant in Iowa, it was discovered that the supposedly kosher slaughter of animals was causing the unnecessary pain and suffering that it is supposed to avoid. Big uproar amongst the Jewish community. They want their meat but they don't want it to mean that the animals suffer needlessly. What's so hard to grasp about this concept? Why is it that you have to be of a certain religion to give a shit about creatures? Is it really such a foreign notion to the rest of America to be concerned... about anything?

Blah. I've lost track of where I was going with this. Eat meat, don't eat meat, I don't care. But give a shit and don't pretend that what happened to your meal before it got to you doesn't matter.