(NaturalNews) In late August, an animal rights group called Mercy for Animals released a video showing workers at a Tennessee poultry farm as they clubbed, stabbed and fatally stomped small or sickly chickens being raised there.

The highly disturbing video has resulted in a major controversy, especially since it was revealed that the all of the farm's chickens were being sold to Tyson Foods to be turned into Chicken McNuggets for McDonald's.

The video was shot by an investigator working for the animal rights group who was hired by the farm's operators in July. The investigator claimed that T&S Farm violated animal cruelty laws not only by brutally killing the "unfit" chickens depicted in the video, but also by subjecting the rest of them to barbarous and abusive raising methods in general.

Mercy for Animals says that the investigator witnessed at least 100 instances of cruelty and abuse during the four weeks he worked there.

USA TODAY reported:

Mercy for Animals also says their investigator found that the birds were bred to grow so quickly that they became crippled by their own weight and often died from organ failure. The group also claims that the birds are crammed into sheds where they live in their own waste before being trucked on to the slaughterhouse.

Farm now under investigation, Tyson cuts ties, McDonald's attempts to distance itself

Since the release of the video and the massive public outcry, Tennessee authorities are now investigating the incident to determine if charges of criminal animal abuse are warranted.

Meanwhile, Tyson Foods has announced that it has cut its ties to the farm. A Tyson spokesman said that "based on what we currently know, we are terminating the farmer's contract to grow chickens for us."

The spokesman, Worth Sparkman, also said: "We're committed to animal well-being but don't believe this video accurately depicts the treatment of chickens by the thousands of farmers who supply us."

That's a debatable point. Animal rights activists have been saying for years that poultry farms routinely abuse animals by raising them in confined and filthy conditions. Companies like Tyson and McDonald's only seem to take action in cases where these practices are revealed to the public.

McDonald's also acted quickly to distance itself from the controversy and released a statement saying it considered the farm's methods to be "unacceptable."

The statement by McDonald's reads in part:

We're working with Tyson Foods to further investigate this situation and reinforce our expectations around animal health and welfare at the farm level. We're committed to working with animal welfare and industry experts to inform our policies that promote better management, strong employee education and verification of practices.

Yeah, right.

It seems highly unlikely that Tyson had no knowledge of the general conditions at T&S Farm because they were its sole customer. Are we to believe that a farm that had a capacity of 120,000 birds was never subjected to even a cursory inspection by Tyson?

It might be true that T&S Farm is a particularly egregious example, but I'm guessing that conditions at other farms that supply Tyson and McDonald's are not much better.

Sharing the blame

However, some of the blame must fall on the consumer. It's no secret that McDonald's sells unhealthy garbage camouflaged as food to a willing public that continues buying it.

The fact that McDonald's has recently seen a significant slump in sales revenue is encouraging, but we should all be aware that chomping on Chicken McNuggets or other products sold by Mickey D's helps to perpetuate the raising of animals in these conditions.

In fact, buying chicken or other meat that is not organically raised in a free-range environment is unhealthy and directly supports operations such as T&S Farm.

In other words, it supports cruelty to animals in general.

Food for thought...

Sources:
USATODAY.com
USATODAY.com