With an “Ag-Gag” bill aimed at suppressing agribusiness whistleblowing now making its way through the North Carolina legislature, Animal Outlook released a powerful new undercover video exposing abuse to birds inside Mountaire Farms, a chicken slaughterhouse in Robeson County, NC.

If the pending ag-gag bill SB433/HB405—supported by the North Carolina poultry industry—becomes law, this video may be the last honest look the public will get behind the closed doors of factory farms or slaughterhouses in the state.

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Captured on camera by an Animal Outlook investigator who worked inside the Mountaire Farms facility in March and April 2015, the footage reveals:

• Workers violently throwing birds around the facility
• Workers punching, shoving, and pushing helpless birds hanging upside down shackled by their feet
• A worker ripping out bird’s feathers and throwing them at another worker
• Workers forcefully slamming birds into leg shackles
• Workers throwing sick or injured birds into piles of dead and other dying birds like garbage

This level of violence against animals is so egregious that it violates the state’s animal protection laws. Animal Outlook has turned over the evidence to Robeson County law enforcement and is hopeful this case of cruelty will be taken seriously.

The North Carolina legislature is currently fast-tracking a dangerous anti-whistleblower Ag-Gag bill that, if enacted, would have prevented our investigator from shedding light on these violent acts. SB433/HB405 aims to make it illegal to document and expose nearly any wrongdoing inside factory farms and slaughterhouses — from animal abuse and labor issues to food safety and environmental violations.

North Carolina’s chicken industry is desperate to cover up its rampant animal abuse, which is why it’s so feverishly working to enact this law. Rather than doing the right thing to stop these abuses from happening, the North Carolina chicken industry is simply trying to prevent the public from seeing it and punishing anyone who would expose it.

You can send our brave investigators a message to inspire them.

This isn’t the first time North Carolina has attempted to pass an Ag-Gag law that aims to keep Americans in the dark. In just the past few years, undercover investigations in North Carolina have exposed shocking cruelty, including sick and injured birds being buried alive at a chicken factory farm in Harnett County that was also documented by Animal Outlook.

Mountaire Farms is the seventh largest chicken slaughterer in the U.S. with operations in North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware.