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

Oct 23, 2013

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.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.