Alabama: Leon Green and Latoya Green left their starving horses to die. Before going on TV and crying for the cameras, Latoyah allegedly spent her free time online calling people 'crackers' and threatening them.

ALABAMA -- A couple from Gadsden is charged with animal cruelty after two horses were found starving in Cherokee County.

Leon Green, 59, and Latoya Diane Green (also spelled Latoyah Green), 33, are charged following an investigation by ALEA's Agricultural Unit and Cherokee County's Sheriff's Office and Animal Control Unit.

They are believed to be the owners of the horses and of the property on which they were found near the Cherokee-Etowah County line.

 

 

The horses were found in a pasture just off County Road 32 in Cherokee County, near the Etowah County line.

The plight of horses went public Wednesday, as photos of the horses were posted, along with frustrations of people who wanted to help.

The horses, a mare named Delores and a pony, were in a pasture on Cherokee County Road 32, tied to either a tree or fence. Pictures posted on Facebook showed the emaciated-looking horses, with ribs visible.

When Joell McBurnett of Cedar Bluff saw it Wednesday morning, she was heartbroken.

“I got up, went to the store and bought a bag of feed and went looking for them,” she said.

She was able to find the horses and was even more upset. Due to fierce rains over recent days, the mare had lain in mud and water unable to get up.

“I couldn’t even tell you what color that horse was. All her hair was gone,” McBurnett said.

She called authorities as she headed out and was told the situation had been taken care of, but she decided to continue looking for the horses.

The mare was down — McBurnett was told she’d been down for three days, unable to get up — with lacerations from being tangled in barbed wire.

When McBurnett was there, a number of people came to the scene, seeking to help the horses.

“It wasn’t just me,” she said.

 

 

A farmer brought out a tractor to try to lift the horse to try to get her on her feet, but she just couldn’t stand.

She said she was told various authorities — sheriff’s office representatives and the animal control officer — were aware of the situation and were meeting to determine what could be done.

Meeting to discuss what? What to do? The horse has been lying there dying FOR THREE DAYS. What is there to discuss? You get out there and take the animals!

McBurnett said she was told the authorities couldn’t do anything because it was on private property. She said it seemed there was more concern from law enforcement with telling people to get off the property than to come out and rescue the horses.

One of those animal volunteers, Joell McBurnett, says she even had food and water in her car to give to the horses herself.

McBurnett says a neighbor provided names and numbers for the horse owners, and she called them and offered to buy the horses.

She says they arrived at the property emotional, saying they had tried to get help for the horses themselves.

Oh really? What did they do for the THREE DAYS this horse was suffering and dying? Anything? Nothing? My guess is NOTHING and now they're trying to act like, "Oh I didn't know what to do so I just sat at home watching TV".

"When you look at the pictures and see the videos, you have anger and you have hatred for these owners. But don't!" an emotional McBurnett said.

McBurnett had posted pictures of the emaciated horses on Facebook along with videos, generating outrage among those who saw and shared them. But after meeting the couple, McBurnett had a change of heart.

"They just wanted us to save their animals. They didn't know what to do. They showed up with a bottle of Gatorade and tomato juice because they didn't know how, or what to do. They just didn't know," she said.

And I suppose they didn't know what a phone was. And that this device, called a telephone, enables people to call other people... such as animal control, or a vet, or a rescue for help. Stop babying these morons.

“She was very upset,” McBurnett said. “When I told her (someone) wanted to buy the horses, she broke down crying.

“She said she didn’t want any money,” McBurnett said, but those trying to help insisted that some money change hands so they could have a legitimate bill of sale to show to a treating vet.

An exchange of money could have been ONE DOLLAR. I guarantee you that Latoyah didn't sell the horses she claimed to care soooo much about for ONE DOLLAR.

One of the horses, Delores, had to be put down, but a second, a miniature Appaloosa named Baby D, is in a vet's care.

McBurnett says she wants state lawmakers to pass new legislation putting livestock until animal cruelty statutes, and making it easier for abused or neglected animals to be rescued from private property. She wants to call it "Delores' Law," after the horse that was put down Wednesday.

The Greens were booked into the Cherokee County Jail where they will be held pending a bond hearing.

ARREST INFO:
Full Name: Leon Green Jr
Date: 07/07/2017
Time: 5:13 PM
Arrest Age: 59
Gender: Male
Race: Black
Arrest Location: Cherokee County, Alabama
Charges
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Full Name: Latoya Diane Green
Date: 07/07/2017
Time: 4:39 PM
Personal Information
Arrest Age: 33
Gender: Female
Race: Black
Arrest Location:Cherokee County, Alabama
Charges
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

  

 

Launa Shay Lancaster - Evidently there is guilt on her behalf the tears show that. Prayers for them and the horse.

Jaime Leigh - She wasn't crying yesterday commenting on the FB post, calling everyone "crackers." Which doesn't offend me , but damn . What does she expect ? This is serious neglect .

Launa Shay Lancaster - Jaime Leigh the horses suffered. Maybe God can help her

Christi Okerson Brown - Jaime Leigh, you are kidding, right? The fact that she had the audacity to say ANYthing is appalling.

Jaime Leigh - No , I wished I was .

Michele Bowers - Yeah she was threatening people yesterday saying she would take care of people

Tim Pentecost - She was cussing everyone on fb out yesterday. Today she and her old man are in jail. karma

Lisa Orr Simmons - Prayers for the horses. They obviously suffered tremendously at the hands of these horrid people. And she is only crying because they got arrested.

Christi Okerson Brown - She is gonna take care of people? She can't even take care of her animals. Classy!

Mallory Grace - Prayers for them? No I pray they get there ass locked up for a while and not have any more animals to mistreat!! Screw her tears...

Jaime Leigh - Yep , she thought it was quiet hilarious yesterday . Smh . It's clearly breaking the law , and she knew that . People just play ignorant when it's convenient for them .

 

  

 

 

(WBRC - July 8, 2017)

Alabama: Mobile Zoo employee Lori Wolting, 55, ran off with a bunch of animals as the USDA was investigating, say police

ALABAMA -- A former employee of the now defunct Mobile Zoo posted a $13,000 bond and was released from Mobile County Jail on Thursday evening.

55-year-old Lori Wolting of Theodore was arrested on July 5 and charged with 13 counts of animal cruelty.

Court documents revealed the charges stemmed from Wolting taking 13 animals from the Mobile Zoo when she left back in February.

The documents listed the animals as a African Gray Parrot, a male Parakeet, a female Parakeet, two Chickens (Male Pullets), two Hens, four Gerbils, one female ring-tailed Lemur and one male rhesus Macaque Monkey.

In a sworn affidavit approved on May 8, Mobile County Animal Control officer Michael Crabtree stated the animals were re-homed to Wolting at 7561 Tung Avenue in Theodore around February 21.

That was at the same time the MCAC launched their investigation into the Mobile Zoo and its operator John Hightower.

Crabtree stated that Wolting had taken two ring-tailed Lemurs and two Rhesus Macaque Monkeys. He said one monkey died under Wolting's care possibly due to anesthesia or tranquilizers used when the animals were transported.

Crabtree said under Wolting's care the monkeys became high-risk asymptomatic carriers of the Herpes B virus.

A former graduate student at the University of Southern Mississippi, Dr. Stephanie Jett was involved in primate research at the Mobile Zoo until 2011. She studied the Rhesus Macaque Monkeys in a behavioral and cognitive in nature while she was there.

She said the monkeys currently in Wolting's care never took a blood test for the Herpes B virus during her stint at the zoo. She said the majority of Rhesus Macaque Monkeys are carriers from birth.

"The fact is that the vast majority of macaques are asymptomatic carriers of the herpes B virus," said Jett. "So the likelihood he is positive is higher than the likelihood of him being negative."

However, Jett said the monkey did appear to shed, meaning he was showing outward signs of having the virus while she did research at the zoo.

"He developed sores around his mouth and other parts of his body," said Jett. "We used extreme caution dealing with him during those times just in case as the virus is deadly to humans in 70% of the cases."

Jett said the Herpes B virus is incredibly infectious. Humans can contract the virus by having an animals saliva come in contact with an open wound.

"If you come in contact with their blood or any of their bodily fluid you can get infected," said Jett. "That's why we were so vehemently about her not being in possession of them. She's not qualified to have them and you don't have macaque's as pets. She had them in her house at close contact."

After Hightower's arrest, Wolting left the zoo and set out to launch a new project with animals called, "The Helping Hands Sanctuary."

Hightower plead guilty to 14 of the 28 counts of animal cruelty charges against him on May 18. He was fined and given two years of informal probation.

Along with Wolting, court documents show that another man, Larry Lee Wolting, 52, was arrested on July 5 and charged with 13 counts of animal cruelty.

Court documents list Larry as a co-defendant in Lori's case.

Mobile District Court Judge Jill Phillips set the bond at $1,000 for each count of animal cruelty for both defendants.

Mobile County Jail records show that Larry was able to post his $13,000 bond on Thursday (July 6) evening as well.

Both defendants have a hearing set in Mobile District Court on July 20.

ARREST INFO:
Full Name: Lori Anne Wolting
Date: 07/05/2017
Gender: Female
Race: White
Arrest Location: Mobile County, Alabama
Charges
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

Full Name: Larry Lee Wolting
Date: 07/05/2017
Gender: Male
Race: White
Charges
#1 CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

REVIEWS POSTED 2 YEARS AGO ON YELP

#1 The animals have no room. Its dirty. The exhibits are falling apart. I dont know how they have been in business this long. The birds are in tiny cages in a hot hallway. Many of them are pulling all their feathers out. Do not go here. Its a sad place. I hurt for these animals.

#2 This place is a disgrace and it is sad that the people working there believe the B.S. that they are trained to say. I am proud to say that I am doing more than writing a nasty yelp review to make sure this place has the proper authorities come in and see the mistreatment. When we asked the zoo director where the water was for the bears his response was "what are you an inspector?"

 Giving that kind of sass instead of pointing to the place where water would have been would have been a normal response if the water was actually in the habitat with them. They said that the water for each animal is fastened in a tube like you would have for a hamster cage. This would be adequate if these were hamsters- but they are large cats and bears that need more than a drip each time they are thirsty.

(AL.com - July 7, 2017)

Earlier:

• Alabama: Mobile Zoo owner Mark Hightower arrested, charged on 28 counts of animal cruelty
• Alabama: Lori Wolting charged with 3 counts of animal cruelty; says she's trying to get donations to start her own exotic animal rescue

Washington: Seth Snook, who sells "artisan cheese" under the name Pleasant Valley Dairy, starved dozens of livestock animals to death. He was given a deal that will wipe his animal cruelty charges off his record; was also given his surviving livestock back so he can finish starving them to death

WASHINGTON -- A Whatcom County dairy farmer will have his surviving cows returned to him, about 2 ½ months after he was charged with starving his livestock to death.

Seth Daniel Snook, 35, owner of Snook Brook Farms, entered into an agreement – technically not a plea – Tuesday that dismisses three counts of felony animal cruelty, and reduces two other counts to misdemeanors that will be dismissed if he keeps a clean record.

 

 

Prosecutors charged Snook in April with starving livestock at the family farm at 6804 Kickerville Road, northwest of Ferndale. He told an animal control officer from the Whatcom Humane Society that he didn’t have the money to feed his cows. His family had fallen on hard times when Snook’s wife underwent a craniotomy in 2016, according to the defense.

At least 28 animals were starved or starving to death at Snook’s farm, according to the reports from animal control. One officer noted carcasses of cows littered the farm, and she saw “shallow mass graves everywhere she walked.”

One pig died on the farm, too, and when a warrant was carried out “much later,” the carcass was found still in the same stall on the farm, wrote the deputy prosecutor, Eric Richey, in a court filing.

Snook was charged with felony animal cruelty toward the pig and four specific cows. The cows were described as skeletal and sickly, emaciated and lethargic, with dull eyes. A veterinarian examined the five animals and graded each as the worst possible condition on a 1 to 5 scale: It appeared they had been neglected for about six months.

Snook’s defense has countered that the humane society’s reports were highly misleading; that the pig and one cow didn’t belong to him; and the cows were not being starved, but were at a point in the so-called “drying” period when dairy cows look slimmest. Snook’s attorney has filed a claim of damages against Whatcom County and the humane society for defamation, among other alleged injustices.

Charging papers say other farmers offered to help Snook sell the cows, and he accepted, but did not follow through. However, text messages reprinted in court filings by the defense show Snook made a deal with animal control on April 17 to take his “girls,” as he called the cows, to the dairy auction in two days, not to the beef auction where they would become “fast food.” A warrant to remove the cows was carried out at Snook’s farm April 18. Two cows were euthanized by gunshot at the farm that night at the humane society’s direction, according to a defense motion filed in court last week.

Snook, whose family makes artisan cheese under the brand Pleasant Valley Dairy, was booked into jail May 12. He was released minutes later with no bail required, jail records show. As he awaited trial many of the cows were euthanized.

Snook’s attorney, Emily Beschen, reviewed the available medical records and argued there was “no medical necessity” to kill 13 of those cows. Six more cows held in King County were reported by the humane society to be dead – an error that was later passed on by the prosecutor in court.

As it turned out the six cows were alive. Snook will get those cows back, in the deal he entered into Tuesday afternoon.

Superior Court Judge Raquel Montoya-Lewis approved a plan where Snook’s farm must be inspected each month by a licensed veterinarian. Snook has to pay fees for carcass removal, veterinary bills, and feed for the living cows from the past two months. He’s scheduled to go in front of a judge next year for a progress review.

Puff piece on Pleasant Valley Dairy before we found out they starve their animals to death

Making cheese at Pleasant Valley Dairy is a family affair. Joyce Snook makes the cheese, her son, Seth, oversees the dairy and her daughter, Mattie, runs the farm store. Over the years, they’ve all taken their turns at making cheese, Mattie said, so not a day of production is missed if someone is ill.

Joyce first learned how to make cheese from her father, who started the dairy farm in 1963 and began making cheese about ten years after that.
“They made the first batch in the kitchen,” Joyce said.

The farm has since grown to include 60 cows that produce enough milk to sell to Darigold and make about 130 pounds of cheese a day. And the farm now produces eight different cheeses: six varieties of gouda, a farmstead cheese, and mutschli, which is similar to Swiss cheese.

From the beginning, the goal has been to make wholesome cheese from the highest quality milk, Joyce said. For that reason, Pleasant Valley uses raw milk – meaning it hasn’t been pasteurized – to make its cheese, he said.

 

Remaining small and family-operated is another important goal for the dairy, Snook said. Pleasant Valley cheese is only available locally, and much of it is sold through its farm store.

“We don’t want to send a whole batch of cheese to California just because a few people down there want it,” Snook said, referencing to the amount of fuel it takes to deliver a few pounds of cheese.

Basically, her motto is that cheese produced here should be enjoyed here.

So his excuse is that his wife had medical issues. So where was his mother Joyce Snook? Where was his sister Mattie Snook? Why didn't they take control and sell off these animals instead of slowly starving them to death? 

(The Bellingham Herald - July 12, 2017)

Earlier:

• Washington: Seth Snook, owner of Snook Brook Farms who sells cheese under the name Pleasant Valley Dairy, starved dozens of animals to death, say police

Update to case:

• Washington: Ferndale cow cruelty case against Seth Snook doomed by animal control missteps; farmer sues county

Washington: Seth Snook, owner of Snook Brook Farms who sells cheese under the name Pleasant Valley Dairy, starved dozens of animals to death, say police

WASHINGTON -- A Whatcom County dairy farmer neglected more than 20 cattle and pigs for six months, so long that some needed to be euthanized, according to the Whatcom Humane Society.

Seth Daniel Snook, 34, owner of Snook Brook Farms near Ferndale, faces five counts of first-degree animal cruelty, according to charges filed Friday in Whatcom County Superior Court.

Humane society investigators earlier this month seized all of Snook’s living animals – 23 cows – said Executive Director Laura Clark. Five were euthanized because of their conditions. The others are being given emergency treatment.

Snook, according to the charges, said he couldn’t afford to feed the animals. When reached by phone Friday evening, he declined to comment on the charges, saying he hadn’t yet seen them.

“I honestly don’t think it would be in my best interest to comment on anything,” Snook said.

An animal control sergeant with the humane society began investigating Snook’s farm in late March after the U.S. Department of Agriculture expressed concern about the animals in a report, charges say.

During a trip to the farm, the officer and a Department of Agriculture veterinarian found all of the animals were starving to death, and had been neglected for at least six months.

Snook, according to the charges, said he knew the cows were “a couple hundred pounds underweight,” and that he was responsible. Investigators also found carcasses and skeletons of dead cows at the farm, charges say.

NEIGHBORS, DISGUSTED AT THE SUFFERING OF HIS ANIMALS TRIED TO HELP HIM -- HE REFUSED THEIR HELP AND CHOSE TO LET THE ANIMALS CONTINUE TO SUFFER AND DIE, ONE BY ONE

Snook had agreed to sell his cows and local dairy producers had offered to help feed and transport them, according to the charges, but he didn’t do so.

The five animal cruelty charges Snook faces are for these animals, according to the charges:

▪ A tan-and-white Guernsey breed calf that appeared lethargic and kept laying down

▪ A Jersey breed cow that also was lethargic and could not stay standing for long periods

▪ A Holstein breed heifer, or young cow, that looked “skeletal and sickly”

▪ A Jersey breed cow named Trixie, which had to be euthanized

▪ A dead cream-colored pig, which appeared to have starved to death after eating garbage and other dead animals

 

“The Whatcom Humane Society will continue to advocate for these animals and will do whatever we can to hold Mr. Snook responsible for his horrific crimes against these defenseless animals,” Clark said in an email.

The organization Dairy Farmers of Washington, in a statement Friday, condemned the farm’s conditions, saying they “in no way reflect the animal care practices of the hundreds of hard working dairy farm families throughout Washington or across our nation.”

Snook was not arrested, but a summons has been filed for him to appear in court in May.

(Bellingham Herald - April 28, 2017)

Update:

• Washington: Seth Snook, who sells "artisan cheese" under the name Pleasant Valley Dairy, starved dozens of livestock animals to death. He was given a deal that will wipe his animal cruelty charges off his record; was also given his surviving livestock back so he can finish starving them to death
• Washington: Ferndale cow cruelty case against Seth Snook doomed by animal control missteps; farmer sues county

Alabama: Mobile Zoo owner Mark Hightower arrested, charged on 28 counts of animal cruelty

ALABAMA -- The administrator of a small, roadside zoo in Mobile County was arrested Thursday and booked into the Metro Jail on 28 counts of animal cruelty.

The arrest of John Mark Hightower came after Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich's Office filed a search warrant last week at the Mobile Zoo and discovered animals in poor conditions living within the facility, which is based in Wilmer.

Kathy Eddy, public affairs director with Mobile County, said there are still animals living on the property in which county officials are still awaiting placement.

According to the county, there are still animals with no current rescue or facility ready to accept them at this time: three llamas, two European river hogs, a Razorback hog, a raccoon and a wolf hybrid.

Since the county's animal control department's initial investigation, a Belgian Draft horse had to be euthanized by a veterinarian due to severe conditions and inability to transport, according to the county.

Other animals such as a Shetland pony, donkeys and exotic birds were removed and rehomed following a Feb. 21 investigation. An American alligator was removed by Wes Moore of Alligator Alley in Summerdale.

Some of the animals have rescues or facilities waiting to remove them. Among those animals: three American black bears, two bobcats, a serval cat, an ostrich, a spectacled caiman, a longhorn steer and seven European red deer.

At its peak, the zoo housed more than 75 animals, ranging from bears, to tigers and lions as well as monkeys and birds.

USDA had repeatedly cited the zoo for rotted food in a refrigerator that had maintenance issues, and rotted meat in the enclosures with the lions and tigers. 

The small roadside zoo was ordered to be shut down in November 2016 by an administrative law judge with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after numerous complaints of animals being mistreated. The most recent inspection found cages with dried feces, an accumulation of pests in the animal enclosures, unstable den conditions and possible blood stains that were never cleaned up. 

In a 28-page ruling at the time, the judge listed a host of repeated failures by Hightower and his staff to provide adequate veterinary care and housing in accordance with federal regulations.

The zoo had until New Year's Day to remove all the animals.

The conditions of the animals at the zoo had been on the radar of animal rights groups for years, including the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA, in the past, had referred to the zoo as a "hellhole" and successfully pushed to get its longtime chimpanzee, Joe, released to an accredited sanctuary.

(AL.com - March 16, 2017)

Judge orders the state of Idaho to cover lawyer’s fees in ‘ag-gag’ case

IDAHO -- A federal judge has ordered Idaho to pay roughly a quarter million dollars in legal fees to the Animal Legal Defense Fund and other groups who successfully sued the state over what they called the “ag-gag” law.

Idaho lawmakers passed the law making it a crime to surreptitiously videotape agriculture operations in 2014 after the state’s $2.5 billion dairy industry complained that videos of cows being tortured and abused at a southern Idaho dairy unfairly hurt their businesses.

  

 

The Animal Legal Defense Fund sued the state, and in 2015 a federal court invalidated the law after finding that it violated the First Amendment.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the state to pay the winning side roughly $250,000 to cover their attorney fees and costs.

 

(BC Democrat - May 19, 2016)

North Carolina: Former Butterball worker Ronnie Jacobs, 58, pleads guilty to animal cruelty after video showed him torturing, kicking, beating and killing helpless birds

NORTH CAROLINA -- A Raeford man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of animal cruelty that stemmed from a December 2011 raid at a Hoke County Butterball turkey farm.

Deputies raided the Shannon farm after animal-rights group Mercy for Animals provided a hidden-camera video that showed farm workers beating and stomping on turkeys.

Ronnie Jacobs, 58, of 4475 Rockfish Road, is the last of five workers charged in the case to be convicted. All five also lost their jobs at the farm.

Atrocities inflicted on these animals included:

• Workers violently kicking and stomping on birds, dragging them by their fragile wings and necks, and maliciously throwing turkeys onto the ground or into transport trucks in full view of company management;
• Employees bashing in the heads of live birds with metal bars, leaving many to slowly suffer and die from their injuries;
• Turkeys covered in flies, living in their own waste, with some unable to access food or water and suffering from severe feather loss;
• Birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, rotting eyes, and broken bones; and
• Severely injured turkeys, unable to stand up or walk, left to die without any veterinary care, because treating sick or injured birds was too costly and time consuming, as the farm manager explained to Mercy For Animal's investigator.

Sarah Jean Mason ignored abuse, then
tipped off Butterball execs

Dr. Sarah Mason, director of animal health programs in the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Poultry Division, also pleaded guilty to her role in informing a veterinarian for Butterball that Hoke County prosecutors were reviewing the undercover video.

She was placed on probation for a year.

(WRAL - April 4, 2013)

Earlier:

• Government Corruption Compromises Cruelty Investigation at Butterball

North Carolina: Government Corruption Compromises Cruelty Investigation at Butterball Turkey Company

NORTH CAROLINA -- In a case of the fox guarding the henhouse, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture is under fire for compromising a criminal animal cruelty investigation at a Butterball turkey factory farm after an official for the agency admitted to warning the company days prior to a raid by state law enforcement officials.

According to a warrant issued for the phone records between Butterball and government officials, Dr. Sarah Mason, the director of Animal Health Programs with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, improperly leaked information about the criminal investigation and the impending raid to Butterball.



Sarah Jean Mason ignored abuse, then
tipped off Butterball execs



The Department of Agriculture is responsible for ensuring the health of farmed animals in North Carolina, but in this case, according to law enforcement authorities, the agency interfered with a criminal investigation after Mercy For Animals documented routine animal abuse and neglect at Butterball, including:

•Workers violently kicking and stomping on birds, dragging them by their fragile wings and necks, and maliciously throwing turkeys onto the ground or into transport trucks in full view of company management;

•Employees bashing in the heads of live birds with metal bars, leaving many to slowly suffer and die from their injuries;

 •Turkeys covered in flies, living in their own waste, with some unable to access food or water and suffering from severe feather loss

•Birds suffering from serious untreated illnesses and injuries, including open sores, infections, rotting eyes, and broken bones; and

•Severely injured turkeys, unable to stand up or walk, left to die without any veterinary care, because treating sick or injured birds was too costly and time consuming, as the farm manager explained to Mercy For Animal's investigator.

[I am not a vegetarian. However, animals being raised for consumption MUST BE TREATED HUMANELY! This video is disgusting and I cannot fathom why companies like Butterball do not enforce humane treatment of its animals. These idiotic workers who torture and torment the animals... do you not think they go home, drink a beer and then do the same to their girlfriends, wives, and/or children?

Send Butterball an email, let them know that you buy Butterball products, but that you want them to treat animals humanely and implement a zero tolerance policy for their employees as well as management. Butterball should report abuse to authorities and cooperate completely in prosecuting any employee who abuses animals. And those in management positions who fail to report cruelty should be immediately fired.]

(MFA Blog - January 12, 2012)