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Hidden-camera footage posted online Saturday allegedly shows “sickening cruelty” inside a Maple Lodge Farms slaughterhouse.

The video, posted by Mercy for Animals Canada, shows chickens in tightly packed crates — some with broken wings and legs, others frozen to death. It also shows a blood-soaked chicken flapping frantically on a conveyor, and another that was scalded alive by an industrial washing machine.

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Maple Lodge Farms CEO Michael Burrows said Saturday that his team was working to “verify the facts.”

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“You may have seen a video taped without our knowledge or consent at our Brampton [Ontario] facility,” Mr. Burrows said in a video posted online Saturday. “The activities shown are really disturbing to us, as I’m sure they are to you.”

After the Mercy for Animals group announced it had the footage on Friday, the poultry producer launched an investigation into the allegations. Mr. Burrows said in his statement that Maple Lodge Farms will deal with any violations of animal welfare policies and make changes “so that incidents like this don’t happen again.”

The allegations come a year after an Ontario court found Maple Lodge Farms guilty of failing to provide humane treatment for thousands of poultry.

With files from the Canadian Press