Next time you eat at KFC..think of this..yummm...exploded chicken ass...

(this was sent to me by somebody...I thought it particularly gross)





January 30, 2003

My name is Virgil Butler. I worked at the Tyson plant in Grannis, Arkansas from July, 1997 until November 12, 2002. I worked on the night shift in the Receiving department as a live-hanger as well as on the kill-floor.

I personally witnessed many acts of cruelty toward the chickens by employees of the plant on a nightly basis:

One of the most recent problems that I observed was the night shift superintendent, Richard Frasier, turning down the stunner and ordering the employees to leave it down. This machine is the device that is supposed to stun chickens before they are killed. Turning it down results in the chickens missing the killing machine and evading the killer behind the machine, so that they end up being scalded to death by water in the scalding tank. The scalding tank loosens up the feathers so that they can be picked out. The chickens are supposed to be dead before they reach this point. I, as well as Ed Taylor (my immediate supervisor), Troy Shepmann, and Aron Harris (fellow employees) argued this action with Richard, who refused to stop doing this. We were not given a reason behind Richard's decision.

The expected percentage that the killing machine was supposed to kill by slitting throats was 86%. On an extremely good night that percentage was accurate. The remaining chickens would miss the blade altogether. Most nights the percentage would fall to the high 70's. Some nights, even worse.

I was responsible for trying to slit the throats of the chickens the machine missed on the nights I worked the killing room. Our line runs 182 shackles per minute. It is physically impossible to catch them all. Therefore, they are scalded alive. When this happens, the chickens flop, scream, kick, and their eyeballs pop out of their heads. Then, they often come out the other end with broken bones and disfigured and missing body parts because they've struggled so much in the tank. Sometimes, when we had a line broken down, they would be left hanging upside down in the stunner in the water to drown. In the stunner, the water is cold and salted to better conduct the electricity. I have personally seen them hang in this position for hours.

One night in early spring last year we lost hydraulic pressure. Perhaps 300-400 chickens missed the stunner because the line slowed down so much that the birds could avoid it while those who were stunned were able to recover by the time they reached the killing machine-which was only working sporadically. The live birds were left hanging upside down in the scalders while the machinery was being fixed. We could have quit hanging more chickens at this point and let the line run empty while the killing machine was off-line. Instead, we were ordered by Richard Frasier and Ed Taylor to continue to hang the chickens, while Aron Harris was required to kill all of them by hand. This could not be done by one person, even at half the speed and it was clear to everyone there that birds were going by untouched. Several hundred chickens were scalded to death by this decision.

Most of my fellow employees were extremely abusive to the chickens. Our job was simply to pick the chickens up off of the belt and hang them upside down into the shackles. This could rarely be accomplished without problems, due to several reasons.

We were extremely shorthanded, due to the horrendous working conditions. This led to a high turnover rate with inexperienced, frustrated, workers under pressure to keep the production numbers up. If production fell, it would mean overtime work, so the belt speed was turned up. This resulted in the belt becoming overloaded in the area where the chickens awaited shackling, which ended up smothering hundreds of chickens a night. I heard Richard Frasier say, "I would rather smother a few hundred goddamned birds, than to lose time because of empty shackles." (This was said in late July, 2002 when temperatures in the hanging cage were exceeding 100 degrees in the middle of the night.)

The absence of climate control is another cause of unnecessary suffering that results in death to the chickens. The heater in the "cage," which is the area where birds are hung, worked less than half of the time I worked there. Many times the temperatures would be well below freezing. This resulted in the chickens freezing to the belt last winter and the winter before. They froze to death this way inside the building, where the temperature was below freezing. I and my co-workers complained about this to Richard Frasier, but to no avail. He would just turn and walk away. The reverse of this problem happened in the summer time, where there is no adequate air conditioning. Most of the time, it doesn't work at all, and blows hot air. This results in the chickens dying of heat stroke, heart attack, and suffocation.

When the plant breaks down or when there are too many chickens on the kill schedule for the shift, they are left over for the next shift. For the night shift, this is not as bad in the summer time as it is in the winter, because the chickens are forced to sit out in the cages on the trucks. In the summer on day shift, though, when they leave birds, they sit from 3:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. under a tin shed roof with no water and no food. I have seen hundreds die of dehydration from this practice. This could be remedied by simply stopping the catchers from catching any more until the problem in the plant is resolved or by not scheduling as big a kill to begin with.

These uncomfortable conditions, coupled with the unrelenting pressure to keep the shackles filled at all costs, lead to much frustration and outright rage among the employees.

I have witnessed Troy Shepmann build dry ice bombs (made by putting dry ice and a small amount of water in a plastic Pepsi bottle and screwing the lid down tight) and putting it on the belt with live chickens during break time. This results in a high pressure explosion that rips the chickens' bodies apart and scatters them all over the room. This occurred numerous times, but the one I remember the most was one night last June when he made a small dry ice bomb by shoving a piece of dry ice up a live chicken's rectum, then plugging it with a wooden cork. It built up enough pressure inside the chicken to blow it apart.

I have also seen Aron Harris rip the heads, legs, and wings off of live chickens, or just stomp them to death on the floor because he was aggravated. This occurred on a regular basis for about the last year and a half that I worked there.

I have also seen George Watson, a forklift driver, run over the chickens on purpose, then laugh about it. These kinds of incidents were ongoing and repetitive--just a part of a regular night's work.

Other problems that came up when I worked there were a result of mismanagement. One, in particular, happened several times when we would get orders for bigger birds. The worst was in the week ending on September 14 of last year. In this instance we were given thousands of chickens to hang that were above the size limit we were used to. The shackles were not designed to fit the oversize legs of the chickens. They were too small for their legs to fit into. In the process of hanging the live birds, we were forced to break their legs to get them to fit into the shackles. This was unnecessary. The shackles could have been spread out to fit the larger-sized birds. It would only have taken about an hour for two maintenance personnel to accomplish this. However, Richard Frasier decided that it wasn't necessary and didn't want to lose the production time to do it.

According to published plant progress reports, most of the chicken run by this plant is destined for shipment to Kentucky Fried Chicken. We processed deboned thigh and leg meat and boneless, skinless split breasts. Most of the deboned meat is shipped to a further processing plant where it is made into chicken nuggets for KFC.

I am writing this letter because I want to see something done about this cruelty. I don't wish to be a part of the nightmare any longer and am willing to speak out about this to anyone at any time.

Thank you,


Virgil Butler

moved to dumpster - it's not a food/restaurant review, dear.

as long as i don't get any chicken heads in my meal, i'm good.

though, i do feel that they should be more strict about how they treat the animals. killing is necessary; but that's just cruelty.

remember, plants are alive, too. hell, i've known a few who'd argue to no end that they have souls.

<<starts to appear smug, then breaks down in a sobbing fit>>

Assholes.

iblis wrote:as long as i don't get any chicken heads in my meal, i'm good.

though, i do feel that they should be more strict about how they treat the animals. killing is necessary; but that's just cruelty.

remember, plants are alive, too. hell, i've known a few who'd argue to no end that they have souls.

Killing isn't necessary. Its a luxury. Eating meat isn't "necessary". Its inefficient. . .

Plants : Alive, yes. . . capable of suffering, not in a way I can understand or empathize with, besides most of them have NATURALLY evolved to be consumed as part of their reproductive cycle. Souls? Who knows. Do humans have Souls? Who knows. . .

I'm feeling drained, I'd start a debate, but I'll get off my soapbox cause nobody cares. If you do care about vegetarianism you're probably a vegetarian. If not you're probably not and opposed to it. Blech. All I want is everything to be good and its not going to be. If you want to make the world a better place. . . cut back meat consumption by 10%, give 10% of money to charity, save 10% for a rainy day, get a car with good gas mileage and emissions standards, vote for the good guy, invest in the good companies, help people for no reason, consider other people's feelings before acting or speaking, and don't forget to keep yourself happy in the process. Not everybody wants the world to be a better place. . . I guess that's their right, but they're assholes none-the-less.

Don't forget to breathe.

<<sobs a bit more and wanders off, depressed>>

EvilVegan wrote:

iblis wrote:as long as i don't get any chicken heads in my meal, i'm good.

though, i do feel that they should be more strict about how they treat the animals. killing is necessary; but that's just cruelty.

remember, plants are alive, too. hell, i've known a few who'd argue to no end that they have souls.

Killing isn't necessary. Its a luxury. Eating meat isn't "necessary". Its inefficient. . .

i last longer between meals by eating meat, thus making me eat less. that seems more efficient to me, at least.

granted, you might be referring to efficiency on a global scale. and you'd be right - if everyone would stop eating meat, the world would be a more efficient place.

but they won't.

Plants : Alive, yes. . . capable of suffering, not in a way I can understand or empathize with, besides most of them have NATURALLY evolved to be consumed as part of their reproductive cycle. Souls? Who knows. Do humans have Souls? Who knows. .

this is much more difficult for me to grasp. you don't understand how they feel, and thus their suffering doesn't matter.. or perhaps even exist?

people have said the same about animals. "they aren't smart enough to feel pain" is an all-too-common quote one hears, and yet you obviously know better.

so what distinguishes that piece of leafy green you're chewing on from the lambs in the field?

let me tell you, vegetarianism would take a sharp decline, if plants learned to scream.

I'm feeling drained, I'd start a debate, but I'll get off my soapbox cause nobody cares. If you do care about vegetarianism you're probably a vegetarian.

or someone with a nutritional deficiency, or those too poor to afford to live off of only vegetarian / vegan foods.

If not you're probably not and opposed to it.

most people i know who aren't all for the vegetarian lifestyle, just don't give a shit about it - certainly not enough to oppose it.

Blech. All I want is everything to be good and its not going to be. If you want to make the world a better place. . .

most people do.

cut back meat consumption by 10%

dieting for morality. neat-o.

give 10% of money to charity

"charity begins at the home. "

save 10% for a rainy day

provided there is any left over.

get a car with good gas mileage and emissions standards

that's just plain economic sense, if one has the money in the first place.

vote for the good guy

a good guy? where?!

invest in the good companies

we tried that. they called themselves Enron.

help people for no reason

this is actually a good idea. makes you feel good, too.

consider other people's feelings before acting or speaking

i do this. no, really. it's just that impulsive side of me decides to say or do it, anyways. i really am a monkey.

and don't forget to keep yourself happy in the process.

i'm happy as long as i have my coffee, no matter what third world country has to toil to produce it.

Not everybody wants the world to be a better place. . .

again, most do. they just aren't motivated.

I guess that's their right, but they're assholes none-the-less.

we're all assholes. some of us are just better at it.

Don't forget to breathe.

... heavily.

<<sobs a bit more and wanders off, depressed>>

don't be depressed. it's depressing.
think about this - throughout the world there are at any one time, at least several hundred (i would like to say a few thousand but i can't recall right now) people either praying, or in deep meditation, in the effort to release positive energy into the world.

they call it mass prayer in some countries. the tibetans call it 'life'.

so no matter what bullshit some company does, or what atrocity your government might be behind, there are always some people thinking about the other side of the yin yang, so to speak.

well, that cheers me up. anyways, i don't mean to flame you. just showing another side of the same coin.

I'm a gemini, the coin is always spinning, I see both sides, I just agree more with head. I've researched both sides, extensively. I don't do drugs, that gives me way too much free time.

Yeah, efficient in transferring energy from sun to man. 10% lost in each level. Plant only uses 10% of the energy it absorbs. Animals only get 10% of the energy from plants. Other Animals only get 10% of what they digest. In other words eating humans who eat only tigers who eat only cattle who eat only recycled cattle who eat only soy would be terribly inefficient. 90% of the grain grown in the US goes to the farm animals, wasting 81% of the grain in my opinion.

Plants don't have a brain, nervous centers, endorphins, etc.
What distinguishes leafy greens from lambs? Well; Cellwalls, vacuoles, different DNA, no brain, no nervous centers, no endorphins, no instinctual desire to run from me, they're not cute, I'm an omnivore with a predeliction for vegetables, different kingdom of life, hearts, lungs, kidneys, blood, skin, and on and on and on.

I didn't say that plants can't feel pain. They feel it on their level, releasing repairing chemicals and leaking sap, and I'm sure it sucks for them, but if I'm going to live I'm going to eat them, if I could live eating dirt and sitting in the sun I would, and if they found out that that caused suffering to bacteria and there was another way to get nutrients I would seek every possible means to reduce the suffering I cause. If you're concerned with vegetables suffering, go vegetarian, because it takes less vegetables to sustain a human than it does to feed it to a cow to sustain a human, so eating meat causes more plant suffering. Either way I'm lowering the suffering of both plants and animals.

If more people were vegetarian/vegan the foods would be cheaper. Genetic mutants and diabetics can eat whatever. I'm talking about the majority here, not exceptions. There will always be exceptions and we should cherish them, but because the exceptions have needs the majority doesn't doesn't mean the majority should indulge themsleves at the expense of the minority.

Opposed to living it, was what I meant, but some people I know have actually argued that I am entirely wrong. And thats dumb. You're not doing that though so you're cool.

Most people want the world to BE a better place, not many want to MAKE it a better place.

Charity begins at home?! wtf does that mean (seriously I can't get it right now)

Saving is hard. . . Jesus saves, or so I hear. He must be rich by now. And the rich don't go to heaven.

Yeah, economic and environmental and health and social and moral sense.

Good guy = me. It was rhetorical advice, I don't have anything to back it up with.

Good companies. Yeah. Like Proctor & Gamble. Just kidding. Also rhetoric.

Well at least you're considering them.

Yeah I don't drink coffee either. But not cause I care about it.

The people I was refering to are the ones who consciously try to make their situation better by consciously making other people's worse.

(_._) Indeed.

Depressed like a button. Depressed like a canyon. Prayer is good, I let them know I don't need it right now, it'll pass. It'll all be over soon. Yeah, the fact that there are other people in the world at least thinking happy thoughts does help a bit, I just want more people to wake up, not necessarily to be vegans or born again lesbian midget eskimo albinos, but just to aknowledge that they don't care or that they do and take actions that correlate to their decision. I think about things too much, I empathize as well. I get in a loop thinking about people starving which makes me feel hungry and confused, then I think about the waste of this nation which makes me ashamed and angry, then I think about chickens or cows being hurled around by their legs, bleeding to death, cold alone and utterly defenseless and blameless, while murderers walk our streets and run our government and I feel pain and a twisting emptiness that its somehow all my fault. And then I do cry. I'm crying now. Not bawling or convulsing, but I do have tears in my eyes and its hard for me to tell my customer to "reboot his computer" because I choke up. So I pass on the coleslaw and bucket of wings. Maybe I over analyze and internalize, but if I didn't I'd be someone else.

I didn't feel flamed, don't worry about it, I know you don't mean any ill will.

Hey sorry about that last post it was a bit of a downer. I love you all.

Honestly every now and again I am tempted by vegetarianism. For the last day or so I even tried from Fruitanarism thing....Now I''m feeling decidingly unhealthy....After doing a bit more research on it now I know why. so reminder to everyone...Research throughly any future change in eating habit. View opposing material, doctors advice, look through every single calorie coutnt and mineral intake. Celestial took over for the last day or so...

Back to my main point. I am actually tempted by vegetarianism at times. Sometimes for moral reasons sometimes for the reported health reasons. but the one thing I keep getting back at is that no matter what I do or what society does an animal will be exploited.

The roads we drive on, how many habitiats were destroyed becasue of that ? The factories that make our products...the building where we conduct our business our education. the fields where these plants grow...what happens when gophers or rats arrive?

Sad think is every species exploits another to some degree or form. Fish don't give bears permission to eat them.

As a species with reasoning powers it could be viewed we are more oblidged to care for the others. Problem is anything we do will in some way cause harm to another animal.

As for meat being neccessary I don't know my biology is limiting and if you go on lline searching you'll see so many opposing viewpoints you'll end up reconsidering the concept of a stable reality. From what I've gathered different people needs different lifestyles. Some can go easily without meat, some probably can't. What is the majority is hard to tell, it might even be evenly split.

Iblis its totally right. about morality and people. Most just want to be left alone. It's a good and bad thing. Good because most people won't go out of there way to beat you up, bad becasue most people won't go out of there way to save you.

If it means anything I think there has been considerable moral progress in society, American in paticular. racists now try to say they are not racists whereas in earlier history they wouldn't give a fuck. Slavery is limited in America. Free education. Libraries for anyone who wants to learn.

granted we have a long way to go both in the US and the world. But honestly I would rather llive in this time then any other timeframe. Compared to colonial America, hell even compared to Rome, we're actually quite progressive.

I have a lot of misgivings about life sometimes. I always try to remind myself of that old gambling joke.

Man walks into the casino and sees his friend at the table playing poker. He walks up and says "Look, you know you'll lose your money, you know it's rigged." His friendl looks up at him and says "Yeah I know it's rigged, but it's the only game in town."

Never stop caring.