People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is continuing its push to get retail grocery chain Wegmans to remove the Plainville Farms turkey line from its shelves.
It even staged a demonstration at a Wegman’s in Rochester, New York, earlier this week. And PETA proudly proclaimed via its own website it would be doing that.
It was opportunistic timing for PETA, as earlier this month 11 people were charged with crimes related to the mistreatment of turkeys being raised for Plainville Farms. More than 130 charges were filed against these farm workers.
In a press release on its website, PETA said it wrote a letter to Wegman’s executives, urging them to assess whether the chain should continue to sell the Plainville Farms brand. PETA even went as far as suggest Wegmans officials take a PETA representative with them to farm visits.
Excuse me?
In covering the demonstration in Rochester, WHEC reported that PETA’s Amanda Brody said the animal rights organization has reached out to Wegmans, but the company has not responded.
Good for Wegmans. Think about it. Why in tarnation should Wegman’s respond to PETA?
I mean, PETA staged a protest outside of a Wegmans store, and undoubtedly caused stress to store employees and scared away potential customers.
And since PETA, in the same press release it announced it was targeting the Wegmans Rochester location, the group announced its motto includes the phrase “animals are not ours to eat,” we can deduce that Wegman’s selling any animal-based food product is unacceptable to PETA. Indulging PETA simply wouldn’t be a productive use Wegmans' time.
There is no disputing that the mistreatment of those turkeys shown in a video circulated by PETA was horrendous and unacceptable. But it’s not like Plainville Farms ignored what happened.
Once the company’s leaders saw that video, it launched its own investigation. Plainville Farms also released the following statement: “We are fully cooperating with law enforcement in order to investigate the PETA allegations, and fully support the prosecution of any individuals found to be involved in the mistreatment of any of our turkeys. Regardless of the outcome of that investigation, none of the individuals addressed in the PETA allegations work for Plainville Farms any longer as of this writing.”
In addition to terminating 13 workers, the company purchased body cameras to monitor all live operations team members, with the surveillance footage being routinely monitored internally and by outside third-party animal welfare experts.
I have no reason to believe Plainville Farms was being untruthful when it released those statements, nor do I have reason to believe it is not doing whatever it can to ensure the health and welfare of its turkeys while they are living.
So, if Wegmans also believes Plainville Farms has the turkeys’ best interest in mind, that’s good enough for me. And Wegmans certainly doesn’t have to answer to those who disrupted business in Rochester this week.
