​​​​​​In 2017, Mercy For Animals released an exposé showing egregious animal cruelty involving two Canadian companies. Our whistleblower captured footage at multiple farms in British Columbia, where Elite Farm Services workers were under contract with Sofina Foods to catch chickens and deliver them to slaughter. The whistleblower documented workers stomping on live birds and tearing off their limbs. 

A year later, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency laid charges against Elite Farm Services, Sofina Foods, and Elite owner Dwayne Paul Dueck. While Sofina claimed to be “appalled and extremely shocked” by the footage, a former supervisor at Elite Farm Services claimed that management had been at least partly aware of the terrible treatment of chickens.

These companies were recently held accountable. Elite Farm Services and Sofina Foods both pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty for causing undue suffering. They must each pay $300,000 in fines and have been sentenced to three years’ probation.

Before pleading guilty, the accused twice attempted to have the case thrown out of the Supreme Court of British Columbia and failed both times.