Two companies including one from Chilliwack face 38 charges under the Health of Animals Regulations in connection with alleged animal abuse caught on video a year and a half ago.
The video in question shot at an Elite Farm Services operation in Chilliwack and showed chickens being kicked, stomped on, sexually abused and having their limbs torn off.
• READ MORE: Chilliwack chicken catchers accused of ‘torturing’ birds in undercover videos
The charges come as a result of an investigation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).
Facing 38 charges are Elite Farm Services Ltd., Dwayne Paul Dueck from Chilliwack, and Sofina Foods Inc./Aliments Sofina Inc., Markham, Ont.
It is alleged that the companies “did unlawfully beat an animal, to wit: chickens, being loaded or unloaded in a way likely to cause injury or undue suffering to it.”
Industry usually dismisses cruelty uncovered in investigations as being the result of a few bad apples. Low-level workers are thrown under the bus. In this case, it's rightly the companies being held to account for creating and permitting a climate in which cruelty flourishes.
— Anna Pippus (@AnnaPippus) December 13, 2018
The specific sections of the Health of Animal Regulations violated are 139(1) “No person shall beat an animal being loaded or unloaded in a way likely to cause injury or undue suffering to it,” and 139(2) “No person shall load or unload, or cause to be loaded or unloaded, an animal in a way likely to cause injury or undue suffering to it.
The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS), which expressed concern in May of this year how long it was taking for charges to laid, issued a statement Thursday.
• READ MORE: One year later, still no charges in Chilliwack chicken abuse case
“We’re pleased that charges have finally been laid in this case, which involves allegations of some of the worst animal abuse we’ve seen,” said VHS spokesperson Peter Fricker. “Those responsible should be held to account and punished to the full extent of the law.”
Lawyer and director of Farmed Animal Advocacy, Tweeted out that it was “pretty major” that companies were being charged rather than just low-level farmworkers as is often the case.
• RELATED: Last man sentenced in Chilliwack cattle abuse gets 45 days
“Industry usually dismisses cruelty uncovered in investigations as being the result of a few bad apples. Low-level workers are thrown under the bus. In this case, it’s rightly the companies being held to account for creating and permitting a climate in which cruelty flourishes.”
Elite Farm Services, Dwayne Paul Dueck, and Sofina Foods are scheduled to appear in Chilliwack provincial court on Dec. 18.
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