Article content

Six employees have been fired from a B.C. chicken-catching company after an animal-welfare group released hidden camera footage showing chickens being mangled and stomped on, which then sparked a B.C. SPCA investigation.

“We are sickened with the footage and want to ensure all our suppliers and producers that this is not reflective of who we are, our fundamental beliefs or behaviour we accept from our employees,” said Dwayne Dueck, president of Elite Farm Services, just a day after the SPCA announced it had launched an investigation sparked by a complaint from the group Mercy for Animals.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Six Chilliwack employees fired in response to chicken abuse video, SPCA probe Back to video

A Mercy for Animals volunteer who applied and got a job with Elite Farm Services witnessed alleged instances of animal abuse begin “pretty much immediately” after starting work.

“The whistleblower simply applied to work at this facility just like any other employee and they worked the job they were hired to do, following what was legally asked of him to do … and they covertly then recorded evidence while employed at Elite Farm Services,” said Lindsay Wolf, vice-president of investigations for Mercy for Animals, during a teleconference Tuesday morning.

The footage, which involved several workers and a supervisor, was filmed by the volunteer between May 10 and June 9 while working with Elite Farm Services, based out of Chilliwack.

An employment posting for Elite Farm Services found on online job site Indeed said part-time chicken catchers were being sought, as recently as last week, to work a one-year night shift contract. Pay was listed at $14 an hour, with shift times of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. from Sunday to Thursday overnights. The job description said duties would be “fast paced” and “physical.”

Elite supplies a Port Coquitlam processing facility operated by Sofina Foods and whose products are sold under the brand Lilydale with a production code of EST092D. Some of the products have been documented by Mercy for Animals as being sold at Loblaws and Loblaws-owned grocers.

“The abuse started pretty much immediately after the whistleblower started working at this facility. So documenting hitting, kicking, throwing birds, smashing them into walls, into transport crates — things like that were documented very early on in the case,” said Wolf.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT.