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The Costco poultry processing complex, run by Lincoln Premium Poultry, includes a processing plant, hatchery and feed mill (pictured). The complex is located in south Fremont.
The Lincoln Premium Poultry plant in Fremont produces chickens for Costco.
No criminal charges are expected to be filed after 1,000 birds were consumed by flames and another 1,500 injured when a truck hauling them into the Lincoln Premium Poultry site near Fremont caught fire.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has asked Dodge County Attorney Sara Sopinski and law enforcement to investigate and file applicable criminal charges against those responsible for the 2,500 chickens being burned alive or injured.
Nebraska Statute 54-903 states that a person who recklessly abandons or cruelly neglects a livestock animal, resulting in its serious injury or death, faces a Class IV felony charge.
“My understanding of what happened didn’t involve any cruel neglect, but more of a mechanical failure in the vehicle,” Sopinski said. “It doesn’t appear on the surface, at least to me, that there were any cruel intentions in the circumstance.”
Sopinski said her office doesn’t conduct investigations and that the PETA letter was forward to the Fremont Police Department to determine if an investigation was warranted.
She also pointed out how the fire began.
“There’s nothing indicating somebody was trying to start the vehicle on fire, so I think it’s safe to say the vehicle starting on fire was an accident,” she said, adding, “I imagine the fire put the individual driving it at substantial risk, too.”
Fremont Police Chief Jeff Elliott said the department doesn’t plan to conduct an investigation, unless there is some indication that the event was criminal.
Currently, there is no indication the event was criminal, he said.
A report from the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) states that shortly before 4 a.m. June 17, a truck transporting live birds from a farm some 60 miles northwest of Fremont caught fire as it drove onto LPP premises at 1325 E. Cloverly Road.
FSIS reported that discussion with company management indicated breaks on the rear wheels of the truck probably overheated and ignited the flames which caused the rear tires to explode, producing a loud sound with huge flames.
LPP management said employees’ attempts to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers failed. Within 15 minutes after the fire started, Fremont Police and firefighters arrived at the scene.
Fremont firefighters had the blaze completely contained by 4:45 a.m.
The FSIS report states each truck carries about 6,000 live birds with each module/crate holding about 500 birds.
It said the last two modules (1,000 birds) at the rear of the truck were completely burnt.
An estimated 1,500 birds from four modules in the front were injured, with many of the live birds loose in the establishment’s parking lot.
While 1,000 chickens died in the flames, the LPP decided to euthanize the remaining 5,000 birds that had been on the trailer.
The report stated that a Supervisory Public Health Veterinarian (SPHV) observed the humane euthanasia of birds from about 5 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
Birds roaming around the parking lot were euthanized by cervical dislocation, while those in the modules by a high dose of carbon dioxide treatment.
In a press release, PETA said a whistleblower believes the driver “carelessly left the truck’s emergency brake on, igniting the fire.”
PETA also said LPP workers broke the necks of birds that managed to escape and gassed others over a period of time, which the nonprofit organization said took almost four hours.
Collin Henstock, assistant manager of investigations at PETA in Norfolk, Virginia, said the USDA report carries no criminal or civil penalties.
“So we’re pursuing charges under state law, because federal officials haven’t prosecuted any of the slaughter houses they inspect for acts such as this since at least 2007,” Henstock said.
PETA Vice President Daniel Paden drew attention to the FSIS report.
“This report shows that 1,000 birds, each one an individual capable of feeling pain and fear, died in terror and agony in the flames that engulfed a truck at this facility and that the necks of those who survived were cruelly snapped or else the animals were gassed to death,” Paden said.
Paden recommended that those concerned about matter make a different food choice.
“PETA urges anyone who still eats chickens to spare a thought for the suffering of these gentle birds and go vegan,” Paden said.
Henstock also advocated this option.
“Even the best run slaughter houses still violently kill massive numbers of animals and the best way to spare animals from suffering in this industry is to stop eating them,” he said.
Henstock said barring the driver being convicted of a serious offense related to these birds’ deaths, the incident is unlikely to affect his or her commercial driver’s license, typically issued by the driver’s home state.
LPP is a Nebraska company, established in 2016 for Costco, in collaboration with the wholesale, American multinational corporation.
PETA stated in the news release that it has asked Costco management what steps the company plans to take to prevent similar incidents.
The FSIS report states that management has the opportunity to develop preventative measures regarding maintenance of equipment and machinery and/or contingency measures to follow if a similar incident occurs in the future.
“FSIS recognizes the establishment reacted responsibly to this event and that this incident created undesirable equipment and production loss and something the establishment obviously wants to avoid in the future as this fire led to about 6,000 chickens dying by means other than by slaughter,” the report states.
LLP has declined to comment at this time.
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Tammy Real-McKeighan is news editor of the Fremont Tribune. She covers news, features, religion stories and writes the weekly faith-based, Spiritual Spinach column.
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The Costco poultry processing complex, run by Lincoln Premium Poultry, includes a processing plant, hatchery and feed mill (pictured). The complex is located in south Fremont.
The Lincoln Premium Poultry plant in Fremont produces chickens for Costco.
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