Bay-area, California Animal rights group activists climbed barbed wire fences of a Petaluma, California egg farm at night multiple times in 2013 & 2014 and uncovered what they say were inhumane treatment of chickens. The egg farm is a certified humane practices egg farm contracted to provide eggs for Whole Foods Markets. The Press Democrat reveals that it maybe part of a plot by the group Direct Action Everywhere to undermine the credibility of Whole Foods. The egg farm disputes the video stating the chickens featured are not part of the Certified Humane program. Furthermore, the farms owners dispute the accusations that any of their chickens are mistreated.

Direct Action Everywhere posted the video at its website earlier in the month accusing Petaluma Farms of inhumane treatment of chickens and stated they wanted to expose the egg farm’s lies. The video shows chickens huddled together in cages looking very tired with some even missing feathers. Petaluma Farms states they are proud of their track record and have no mistreated any animals in their farm. The images, Petaluma responded, shows selective footage in order to make it out like all chickens there are mistreated.

This incident reminds me of a case Sonoma County Sheriff’s deputies investigated in October of last year based on complaints by Mercy for Animals. The animal rights group alleged a duck farm also located in Sonoma County was mistreating its flock of ducks that are slaughtered for human consumption. The police found no evidence of any wrong doing. Petaluma Farms provides cage-free eggs for Whole Foods and even allows chickens it uses for that purpose access to outside the barns the chickens are housed. The best refutation of Direct Action Everywhere’s allegations against Petaluma Farms was this section of their article that said:

Petaluma egg farmer Arnie Reibli said activists often try to make standard farm practices look nefarious. Beak trimming, for example, is done so hens don’t cannibalize or hurt each other and is an accepted humane practice, he said. But animal rights activists, as in the Direct Action Everywhere video, say “beaks have been cut off” or other provocative wording.

Ultimately, he said, farmers can’t afford to treat animals poorly.

“It’s not in my best interest to have a flock of birds that is not healthy or that is not provided with good animal welfare,” Reibli said. “If you mistreat an animal or a human, they will not produce to the best of their ability.”


The fact that Direct Action Everywhere would splice together footage and use it to make false accusations against an egg farm really is pathetic. But to groups like them and Mercy for Animals, they do not care. Animal rights activists share the same lack of morality as seen in the animal kingdom and their thought processes includes misrepresenting the truth and even lying. Rather than seeing man prosper and live, like any environmentalist group, animal rights organizations prefer mankind to be dragged down and destroyed. One of the ways to do that is to attack the human food supply piecemeal like they attempted to do with Petaluma Farms and at the Sonoma County duck farm.