Using a hidden camera, a COK investigator documented shocking abuses forced upon newly-hatched chicks and ducklings while employed at Cal-Cruz Hatcheries in 2009. The video evidence was immediately turned over to the Santa Cruz County Animal Services Authority and the District Attorney’s Office. In response, a follow-up investigation conducted by humane law enforcement not only corroborated our evidence of abuse and neglect but also resulted in the impoundment of 88 ducklings.
Despite this additional documentation by authorities, the District Attorney’s office held the case for several months, and in late April 2010, officially declined to prosecute the hatchery for violations of state animal protection laws.
Exposing Abuse: COK Investigation inside Cal-Cruz Hatcheries
While employed as a maintenance worker at California-based Cal-Cruz Hatcheries Inc. for nearly a month in 2009, COK’s investigator witnessed and painstakingly documented miserable conditions forced upon thousands of newly hatched birds, including:
A chick drowning in a bucket of liquid waste
Birds entangled in machinery, their dead bodies mangled, decapitated, or missing limbs
Sick or severely injured birds left to suffer for hours
Unwanted hatchlings dumped down the egg shell disposal chute, then sprayed with a high-pressure hose
Birds thrown five to six feet across the room into buckets where they often languished for hours
Our video evidence uncovering shocking animal abuse prompted Santa Cruz County Animal Services Authority to look further into this case.
In conducting its own follow-up investigation, this humane law enforcement agency collected additional evidence of abuse and neglect and impounded 88 ducklings in need of care.
While several of these newly-hatched birds were too sick or injured to survive, more than two dozen were given a new chance at life at a nearby sanctuary.
Act Now: You Can Help Save Animals, Three Times a Day
This documented case of animal abuse is not an isolated incident. Rather, animal cruelty is standard in the meat-, egg-, and dairy industries, and the most effective step each of us can take to help stop it is to simply leave animals off our plates.
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