1. Ky (Kenny) Ngo
PR 192
28 October 2015
Undercover Video Captures Chicken Abuse: Animal Activists Target Company (Case #17)
Case Background and Problem:
Natchitoches, West Virginia is home to a chicken processing plant called Pilgrim’s Pride
which is where most of the chicken are being slaughtered and packaged off to various restaurant
chains such as Kentucky Fried Chicken. On July 20, 2004, the New York Times ran a story about
the abuses of chicken at the Pilgrim’s Pride plant and although it was considered a small piece of
information in the business section, the graphic images on the newspaper were enough to be seen
on the news in the evening (Swann, pg. 266, 2014). TV viewers across the United States were
treated to a real shock when they were shown clips of chickens being abused the workers of
Pilgrim’s Pride on live television, especially since the chickens were supposed to be stunned
before they would be killed. Many Americans couldn’t believe that the chickens they consumed
were being treated to various abuses such as being stomped on, kicked around, and smashed
towards a wall. The clips were being recorded on a hidden video camera at the processing plant
and it was placed there by a undercover investigator who was from PETA (People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals) and wanted to show the public what was going behind the processing of
the food that they would go on to eat.
As soon as the video gained widespread attention, numerous TV stations and media
outlets across the United States began replaying the clips and covering news stories about the
practices of Pilgrim’s Pride which can, according to CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, “make a
carnivore turn vegetarian”. (Swann, pgs. 266-267, 2014). As a reaction to what was being shown

2. in front of a national audience, Pilgrim’s Pride fired 11 workers from its plant in Natchitoches,
West Virginia, which were 3 managers and 8 hourly workers who were suspected to be the
people who were in the video abusing the chickens (Associated Press, 2004). Although Kentucky
Fried Chicken halted its purchases of chicken meat from Pilgrim’s Pride, the damage was
already done as PETA wrote letters to governmental departments and organizations and showed
online links through its websites to the public about how KFC’s chickens were being treated
before they get slaughtered.
Analysis of Problem:
O.B. Goolsby, the president and chief operating officer of Pilgrim’s Pride, issued a
statement to the public a day before the New York Times ran the article and TV networks
broadcasted the video. His statement was about him assuring the public that the chickens in the
plant were being treated with care and any employee who violates the company’s policy “will be
immediately terminated” (Swann, pg. 270, 2014). This would be considered as a move to save a
little bit of pride that Pilgrim’s Pride still had and shortly after, there was an investigation led by
the company on how the chickens were being monitored, which later lead to the termination of
the suspected 11 aforementioned employees. Kentucky Fried Chicken were mentioned as not
being involved in the treatment of the chickens even though the fast-food chain has already been
pressured by PETA in the previous year with a lawsuit and a boycott campaign that were aimed
at the public to not consume food there due to its perceived ignorance of how their chickens were
being handled by Pilgrim’s Pride’s workers (Associated Press, 2004). Chickens were shown to
have gotten beaks removed by force, spitting tobacco in their mouths, and squeezing them so that
they can excrete fecal matter over the other chickens.

3. A few months after the revelations, the Pilgrim’s Plant in Natchitoches earned the title of
“one of the nine worst plants in the country” due to its treatment of the animals that it is taking
care of and had unsanitary conditions in almost every area of the plant (Lau, 2004). USDA
inspectors reported to have witnessed chickens being pulled by cadavers which later led to a
death that didn’t happen due to slaughter. The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) stated
that any adulterated birds would be considered as “unsafe for consumption” as these chickens
were not being handled properly, as well as being raised in living conditions that were
unbearable during cold weather (Lau, 2004). The chickens were found to not have any space to
roam around and always felt smothered by other chickens that were also in the same predicament
in terms of being raised in unsanitary conditions before being led to the slaughter for the
American public’s food consumption. PETA and the Humane Society of America even wanted
the workers and managers of the plant to appear in court and get charged with animal cruelty due
to the abusive treatment handed down to the chickens (Associated Press, 2014).
How The Crisis Was Handled:
As mentioned before, O.B. Goolsby issued a statement to the American public, trying to
persuade them that Pilgrim’s Pride always treated their animals with great care and that any harm
done to them will not be tolerated. The investigation that began shortly after the news broke out
included a review of how the practices and policies of animal welfare were being conducted and
how the employees were handling the chickens that were cooped inside the plant’s cramped
cages (Swann, pg. 272, 2014). The termination of the 11 employees that were working at the
facility at nearby Moorfield were mainly caused by failure to report the violations of the
company’s practices that were taken place over the past several months before the video was
made public. Pilgrim’s Pride later struck back at the investigator who managed the record what

4. was happening by claiming that he “was an employee for more than 8 months” and that more
chickens would’ve not suffered had he submitted evidence of the violations much earlier instead
of a month before the video was sent to the media (Swann, pg. 273, 2014). PETA countered and
stated that the investigator had reported the abuse of chickens twice and the plant supervisor had
even witnessed the abuse but those reports fell on deaf ears with the high-ranking executives of
the plant.
Kentucky Fried Chicken issued its own statement that it does not tolerate animal abuse by
any of their suppliers and that unless Pilgrim’s Pride issued evidence that there were no reports
of abuse, then the fast-food company will not purchase from the Moorfield facility again (Swann,
pgs. 273-274). The Natchitoches plant that is responsible for the shipping of meat to various
supermarket and restaurant chains nationwide, which includes KFC, was still the location where
most of the violations took place and Cameron Bluett, the head of corporate affairs for Pilgrim’s
Pride, maintained that it still complied with state and federal laws regarding ethical treatment of
animals (Lau, 2004). However, there were reports of other kinds of abuses that were taken place
at the plant, though not towards the chickens but to the human workers who were being
employed by Pilgrim’s Pride. The employees stated that while they were monitoring the
chickens, they became sick after being exposed to chemicals and have suffered injuries while
working, which led to the employees staging a rally and demanded that the company should have
safe working conditions for all employees (Saunders, 2005). If the company was being sincere in
their attempts to implement better precautions, then the employees can be able to return to work
as their livelihoods depend on their jobs at the plant and as much the employees want to continue
working, they also want to make sure that the company would do its best to prevent sickness and
injuries that occurred due to the working conditions.

5. Discussion:
In my opinion, if the investigator was correct about his claims, Pilgrim’s Pride should’ve
listened to his concerns about how other employees were violating the company’s policies
regarding proper treatment of the chickens that are raised at the facilities. If that had happened,
then the video would’ve not been recorded and not made it to headline news across the United
States. Pilgrim’s Pride should understand that what was recorded inside the plant is now
engrained in the minds of many Americans and that its reputation is being tarnished because of
the abusive actions that some workers unleashed on the chickens. Another thing that the
company should also change is how the living conditions for the chickens should be arranged
and allowing them free space to roam around. This can ensure that the chickens can be able to
live a healthy life before being slaughtered and the benefit for the consumer is that they will to
get a chicken that was raised with care. One last thing that should be mentioned is the
relationship between Pilgrim’s Pride and Kentucky Fried Chicken, it would be a long time before
KFC decides to fully trust the former to supply them the chickens that the fast-food chain needs
and what Pilgrim’s Pride should do is be 100% sincere in wanting to change its policies on how
the employees are handling the chickens.
Conclusion:
It was revealed that the plant had a veterinarian and ten inspectors that were present at the
time the video was being recorded. West Virginia law states that animal cruelty is a felony and
it’s punishable by three years in jail or be fined $1,000 and go to jail for six months if it is a
misdemeanor and in the end, none of the inspectors got charged as they said that they weren’t
aware of the abuses (Swann, pg. 275, 2014). Criminal charges were never handed down to the 11

6. employees who were alleged to be the ones responsible to have abused the chickens in the video.
USDA later issued a notice that clearly stated all live poultry should be handled well according
to good commercial and humane practices. The call for the expansion of federal laws to protect
poultry was promoted by the Humane Society that also wanted Congress to hold hearings on the
videotape that was recorded in the plant (Associated Press, 2014).

7. References:
Swann, P. (2014). Cases in Public Relations Management: The Rise of Social Media and
Activism (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Associated Press (2004, July 22). Poultry Plant Fires 11 After Abuse Video. Fox News.
Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/story/2004/07/22/poultry-plant-fires-11-after-abuse-
video.html
Lau, M. (2004, November 19). Groups: Chicken plant among worst for animal cruelty.
Shreveport Times. Retrieved from
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story/news/local/2014/11/18/groups-chicken-plant-among-
worst-animal-cruelty/19246301/
Saunders, T. (2005, February 2). Workers Claim Abuse Caused by Pilgrim’s Pride. WHSV-3.
Retrieved from http://www.whsv.com/news/headlines/1218952.html