Monday, December 15, 2008

Five Minutes With PETA’s ‘Secret Agent’

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Just when the uproar over the Hallmark and MowMar animal abuse incidents were fading away, an undercover PETA agent dropped another bombshell on the industry. Video showing seriously troubling abuse at Aviagen, one of the major players in the turkey industry, surfaced on November 19. Just a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Convenient timing, huh? The fact that PETA was able to easily place an undercover agent on Aviagen’s workforce was almost as troubling as the video. It raised questions about their pre-employment screening, a critical step in insuring that people with serious personal problems aren’t hired. I certainly hope the ‘series of actions’ outlined in Hofmann’s statement addresses that issue. I was also curious about the PETA person who took the video. How did he get hired? What training did he receive? How long did he work for Aviagen before he went public? Tracking him down through a contact at PETA, I asked him to answer those questions. Because he will continue to do undercover work at other plants, he refused to reveal his identity but he did agree to answer a few questions. So here are his responses....

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