Butterball addresses turkey sex abuse controversy as customers boycott brand on busiest week of the year

Butterball – the largest producer of turkey products in the United States – has spoken out in anger over a shocking PETA video that damaged its reputation just days before Thanksgiving.

The company noted that the footage appeared on PETA’s Instagram page last week, showing workers sitting on turkeys and hitting, pounding and sexually assaulting the birds at the 2006 Ozark, Arkansas, plant.

That was years before Butterball was privatized and certified by American Humane.

“We are aware of a video from almost 20 years ago that is being re-shared on social media,” a company spokesperson said. told Scripps News.

“The video is not current and was taken before Butterball became a private company and before its engagement certification through American Humane.”

“Animal care and welfare are central to who we are as a company and we are committed to the ethical and responsible care of our flocks,” the spokesperson stressed.

“Eleven years ago, Butterball was the first, and remains the only, turkey company to be American Humane certified,” they noted.

“That means we have annual audits conducted by a third party to ensure we meet our more than 200 science-based standards or best practices for turkey care, which far exceed industry best practices.

‘We are proud of this designation, which no other turkey company can claim, and have a zero-tolerance policy towards animal cruelty.’

But in the disturbing footage, an undercover investigator claimed he saw a Butterball employee stick his finger into a turkey’s cloaca, or vagina, for “fun” and saw another employee bash a turkey while it was tied up, the animal rights group said.

He also recalled seeing a “worker… challenge another worker by holding a bird by the legs and pulling her back and forth.”

Images in the video also showed employees handling several birds: hitting, throwing and hanging them to death.

“Do you know what happened to your Butterball turkey before they were killed?” PETA wrote in the caption, without specifying that the content was filmed 18 years ago.

Still, many online were quick to call out the company for the abuse, labeling it a “literal disgrace” and wishing “shame” on the turkey manufacturer when they announced they were boycotting the company.

‘Horrible! I hope PETA ends [you]’, someone commented on the video.

“I’m done @butterballturkey. You are workers who ABUSE innocent LIVING animals, they are disgusting demons!!!’ another shared, while a third noted that he threw away the Butterball turkey he bought for Thanksgiving “and will never buy from you again.”

The video was part of PETA’s strategy to get Americans to skip the Thanksgiving Day chapter this year.

“It’s never too late to go out and grab that vegan roast,” Amber Canavan, the Vegan Campaign Project Manager for PETA, told DailyMail.com. “Save that turkey from the horrors of the slaughterhouse.”

She then claimed that PETA’s expose from nearly two decades ago is not a one-off.

“PETA has conducted even more recent investigations that continue to show that abuse is rampant,” Canavan said, pointing to a separate report. PETA investigation starting in 2021 to Plainville Farms, where “workers were also documented simulating sex acts with turkeys.”

As a result of the investigation, employees at the Pennsylvania plant faced several felonies and 141 charges.

The 2006 investigation resulted in no charges against Butterball, but years later charges were filed against employees in a separate situation.

In 2011, a Butterball factory in North Carolina was raided after workers were caught mistreating turkeys.

In an investigation similar to PETA’s, nonprofit organization Mercy for Animals went undercover and witnessed several cases of animal cruelty.

Multiple employees were hit with charges related to the reported abuse. They were captured on video kicking and stomping the helpless birds.