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Another Prisoner Abuse Trial
MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (AP) -- Former workers at a processing plant who were caught on tape allegedly kicking, stomping and slamming chickens against a wall will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Ginny Conley, head of a state prosecutors' organization, said that while the incident at the Pilgrims Pride plant in Moorefield was disturbing, it does not warrant criminal charges because "these were chickens in a slaughterhouse." The plant serves as a supplier to KFC restaurants.
"It needs to be handled more on a regulatory end than prosecuting someone criminally," she said.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which secretly recorded the alleged torture in July and pressed for the case to be prosecuted, condemned the decision Tuesday and vowed to keep fighting.
"What we documented at this West Virginia KFC supplier is nothing short of sadistic cruelty that warrants the strongest possible condemnation and prosecution," said Bruce Friedrich, director of vegan campaigns for PETA. "Our complaint documents hundreds of instances of felonious cruelty to animals."
Misdemeanor animal cruelty is punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and six months in jail. Conviction of felony animal cruelty can be punished by one to three years in prison and as much as $5,000 in fines.
Earlier Tuesday, PETA sent letters to West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise and Attorney General Darrell McGraw asking them to help find a prosecutor before the time to file charges has expired.
Fran Hughes, chief deputy attorney general, said her agency lacks the jurisdiction to get involved. A call to Wise's spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
Texas-based Pilgrim's Pride fired 11 employees following the release of the video by PETA last summer and provided animal cruelty training to its work force at its 24 North American plants.
The fired workers told Hardy County prosecutor Lucas See in August that they were expected to hang 28 to 33 live birds per minute and it was faster to toss some of them aside than to wring their necks the proper way.
See stepped down from the case last year because of a possible conflict of interest.
Pilgrim's Pride is among the largest poultry producers in the United States and Mexico, and is a major supplier to KFC, which PETA has targeted in an ongoing animal cruelty campaign.
The Moorefield plant employs 2,300 and supports about 200 poultry farms in West Virginia.
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"Excretion is the bitter part of valor."
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