Animal Care Panel Comments on Undercover Video from Two Alberta Egg Farms

By Amanda Brodhagen, Farms.com

A panel of farm animal care experts have provided their observations in a report after viewing an undercover video at two alleged Alberta farms. The panel was asked by the Centre of Food Integrity to examine the video shown on CTV News W5 report which was released by animal rights group Mercy for Animals Canada.

Experts concluded that the video shows unethical and irresponsible treatment of farm animals. The panel also said it was difficult to reach conclusions based on the edited footage which was presented. The expert panel was comprised of Dr. Candace Croney, Purdue University; Dr. Ed Pajor, University of Calgary; and Dr. Stewart Ritchie, a British Columbia veterinarian and poultry consultant.

The footage showed disturbing images of chickens being handled unethically by workers and the practice of thumping as a form of euthanasia. The experts said they’ve never seen thumping as an accepted industry practice for euthanasia. “I disagreed with everything I saw in the video.” said Dr. Ritchie. “But I would have liked to have seen more than the short video clips so I could more clearly understand if the scenes they chose to show truly represented the way this farm was being managed.”

The full report can be accessed by clicking here.