Managers at a Wyoming-based pork facility with connections to Tyson Foods have been charged with cruelty to animals, according to a news release from the Humane Society of the United States.
Tyson officials asked a subsidiary to end its business with Wyoming Premium Farms after an undercover video surfaced in May showing facility employees punching, kicking and abusing pigs.
Tyson did not buy any hogs raised on the farm for its pork-processing plants, although a subsidiary company bought animals from the facility, a Tyson official told 5NEWS.
The Platt County Attorney’s Office charged nine employees from the facility with cruelty to animals, including two managers, according to the Humane Society of the United States. An animal cruelty conviction could put offenders in prison for up to two years, coupled with a $5,000 fine.
Much of the alleged animal abuse involved breeding pigs in confined metal cages for the pigs’ entire lives.
“In addition to adopting stronger protocols to deter and eliminate animal abuse at the hands of workers throughout their supply chains, Tyson, and other companies and pork industry trade associations that still contribute to this type of abuse, must develop plans to get these inhumane cages out of their operations,” states the humane society’s news release.
Tyson responded Wednesday night to the most recent development in the case, stating in an email to 5NEWS:
"We do not tolerate the mistreatment of animals by any of our suppliers. Since May, when the undercover video shot at this Wyoming farm surfaced, the supplier has been thoroughly investigated by our Office of Animal Well-Being. We were satisfied by the operator’s corrective actions, which included its work with on-site animal welfare consultants and retraining its workforce in proper animal handling. We also understand the company made management changes and terminated some employees after its own internal investigation.
It should be noted that Tyson Foods does not purchase hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants. We have a small, but separate hog buying business that purchases aged sows from this farm; however, these animals are sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business."