A day after raiding the former DeCoster Egg Farm in Turner, state agriculture officials said they would immediately address with the farm’s owners any animal health or cruelty issues found at the farm.

“We are doing what needs to be done to protect animals,” said state veterinarian Don Hoenig.

However, because the criminal investigation is ongoing, Hoenig declined to say what, if anything, they had discovered there.

The Maine Department of Agriculture and its Animal Welfare Program raided Quality Egg of New England and Maine Contract Farming Wednesday after a national animal protection group alleged the farm’s birds were sick and abused. A member of the group Mercy for Animals had secretly videotaped conditions at the farm between Dec. 16, 2008, and Feb. 1.

The Department of Agriculture viewed the video in mid-March.

“It really indicated to us that there appeared to be some very deplorable and egregious animal welfare violations over there,” Hoenig said.

The department turned the video over to the Androscoggin County District Attorney’s Office, which advised department officials to do their own investigation, Hoenig said.

On Wednesday, agriculture officials executed a search warrant, raiding the Plains Road facility. Workers shot photos and video, and seized both dead and live chickens. The live chickens had to be euthanized, Hoenig said.

The department on Thursday planned to address any health or cruelty issues with the farm’s owners. It will process the evidence and document what it found, passing that information on to the District Attorney’s Office for its criminal investigation. Hoenig believes that process will likely take weeks.

“It’s going to be a high priority for us,” he said.

The search warrant, filed in Lewiston District Court, is impounded until the department turns over its evidence to the District Attorney’s Office. Franklin County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson has been assigned to the case.

Thursday afternoon, a farm official held a press conference to respond to the allegations. Compliance Manager Bob Leclerc said the video recordings of workers mistreating animals are believed “to be isolated incidents committed by a couple of employees.”

He said his company is outraged that its workers may have acted as shown in the video and audio tapes, and that the farm adheres to strict regulations of the Maine Department of Agriculture and United Egg Producers.

“The company has initiated its own investigation into the matter, which will take place while the state of Maine conducts its investigation,” Leclerc said. “None of these incidents were ever brought to the attention of management before.”

He said the company was disappointed that the employee who recorded the treatment issues knowingly allowed them to continue and did not report them to management.

“We are committed to providing excellent care for the hens at the farm in accordance with animal husbandry guidelines established by United Egg Producers, which ensure that hens have adequate space, nutritious food, clean water, proper lighting and fresh air,” Leclerc said.

That commitment includes undergoing annual audits by United Egg Producers, the most recent of which was in December 2008, when the Mercy for Animals undercover investigator was working at the farm. Leclerc said that audit never disclosed any of the issues raised in the animal protection group’s tape recordings.

Egg-laying hens are protected by Maine’s animal cruelty laws. The state does not mandate routine inspections for cruelty, but Hoenig said Department of Agriculture workers frequently visit the farm for other reasons. For example, a poultry health inspector examines the chickens for bird flu and other health problems about once a week. The inspector would not check for instances of cruelty, but he would immediately address any cruelty he saw while making his rounds, Hoenig said.

The inspector has never noted the kind of situations seen in the undercover video, a point Leclerc made at his press conference.

“For years, an inspector from the Maine Department of Agriculture has toured the barns on the farm in an unfettered manner without an escort on an almost daily basis,” Leclerc said.

But Hoenig said the inspector may not have seen the alleged cruelty – such as throwing sick birds into barrels full of dead birds rather than humanely euthanizing them – because he wasn’t looking for it.

“I think we’ve assumed over the years that type of thing is being done correctly,” he said. “It’s such a basic thing.”

At least one lawmaker is already trying to boost standards for chicken farms.

At the start of the current legislative session, Sen. John Nutting, D-Leeds, submitted a concept bill that, if approved, would direct the commissioner of agriculture to develop best management practices for poultry production in Maine and would allow the “quality of Maine” trademark to be used on poultry products.

The bill, LD 692, has received a public hearing and will be the subject of a public work session at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the State House before the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Sun Journal editor Judith Meyer contributed to this report.



According to the complaint, Mercy for Animals documented “an ongoing pattern of cruelty to animals,” including:

• Supervisors and other workers kicking live hens into manure pits;

• A sick hen hung by her leg on a feeding trough without apparent veterinary care or humane euthanasia;

• At least 150 hens stuck on the wires of their cages or trapped under parts of cages, unable to reach food or water, or to protect themselves from their cage mates;

• Holes in the flooring of dilapidated cages, many large enough for live hens to fall through into the manure pits below;

• Unclean conditions, including extremely decomposed corpses and rotting eggs in cages with live hens producing eggs for human consumption, and hens living with feces caked on them;

• Live hens with their body parts stuck in caging, including at least one hen’s face pressed against moving conveyor belts.