Former Tyson CEO Calls Consumers ‘Gullible’ for Believing Horrific Undercover Factory Farm Footage

Time and again, undercover investigators collect hard-hitting footage from factory farms, proving that abuse, mutilation, and violence are sadly the reality of life for farmed animals. And the horrors continue — a recent COK investigation revealed egregious acts of violence at a facility that supplied Tyson Foods — yet a former CEO of the company continues to deny that abuses exist.

Donnie Smith, former CEO of Tyson, recently told an audience at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln that consumers are “gullible” about believing what they see on social media and in undercover footage. “They have no idea how their food gets to their table,” he said.

Clearly he’s underestimating the intelligence of the compassionate consumers who bear witness to the suffering of these animals through documented video evidence — and the many who respond by leaving animals off their plates.

The latest COK investigation of Tyson revealed birds kicked, slammed, or thrown; run over and crushed to death by forklifts; and sick or injured birds being piled on top of each other in buckets, alongside dead birds, and left to suffer and die. and even one worker impaling live chicks with a metal nail at the end of a pipe.

Another COK investigation inside multiple Tyson Foods broiler breeder factories in Virginia revealed similar violent abuses: workers punching, kicking, and throwing live birds, birds crushed by forklifts, and more. The video evidence immediately ended a barbaric practice at Tyson (Perdue, Wayne Farms, and House of Raeford soon after), and drove unprecedented cruelty charges and convictions.

Both of our videos revealed the painful effects of genetic manipulation for rapid growth, and more than 200,000 people have signed our new petition asking Tyson to stop crippling birds and shift toward cruelty-free plant-based protein (did you know that just a day after we released our video and petition, Tyson announced it’s increasing its investment in meatless company Beyond Meat?).

No matter how hard they try, corporate executives cannot deny the video evidence. Calling the public “gullible” is an insult to the intelligence of the average consumer, who clearly doesn’t want to support companies that abuse and torture animals.

Even Tyson’s current CEO, Tom Hayes, has said that plant-based demand is outpacing meat, and a poultry industry news site recently said plant-based eating will increase in 2018.

You can stand up against animal agribusiness cruelty today! Visit TryVeg.com for free vegan recipes and more.