Butterball Turkeys Were Sexually Abused by Workers?

Question

Disturbing allegations about the conditions inside a Butterball turkey facility from 2006 resurfaced on social media in 2024.

Answer 1

The assertion that employees sexually abused butterball turkeys is accurate, but it is not current. The claim was developed shortly before Thanksgiving in 2024 as an effort by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) for consumers to boycott the company. Graphic Footage was captured by an undercover PETA activist in 2006. The video shows the turkeys being beaten and abused by employees. There is also verbalized evidence of abuse by employees in recorded conversations. This scope article also cites other instances of Butterball’s offenses, including a 2011 raid of a North Carolina Butterball facility amidst animal cruelty violations. (ABC News, 2011). However, as Snopes clarifies, the video evidence may be too dated to see any specific instances of sexual abuse to the turkeys. Overall, the claim is supported by several pieces of evidence, but the specifics of abuse are not entirely clear.

Comments

I really like your use of adding a credible News source, (ABC NEWS) and would've wanted to add that to my answer if I had thought of it. I also think you did a great job structuring the information, and laid out the situation very clearly for readers to understand, which is important when attempting to stop spread misinformation.

Answer 2

The claim that Butterball Turkeys were sexually abused by workers is from a 2006 investigation, that recently has resurfaced in 2024 on social media apps like TikTok. This claim has been proven true, when in 2011, a Butterball facility in North Carolina was raided, and evidence in the form of captured footage resulted in six employees getting charged with a misdemeanor in animal cruelty. This article also confirms that around that same time, Butterball turkeys was also sold from its parent company (ConAgra Foods), to Carolina Turkeys “around October 2006”, which PETA confirmed was around the same time the infamous footage of the abuse was recorded.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2024/11/29/peta-butterball-turkey-abuse/