‘Neglect and Abandonment’: Lawsuit Blasts Costco Over of Its $4.99 Rotisserie Chickens
OH CLUCK
Retail giant Costco is facing a lawsuit from two of its shareholders over the company’s treatment of birds that are sold as $4.99 rotisserie chickens. The plaintiffs in the claim say the company is violating its fiduciary duty to shareholders through its “illegal neglect and abandonment” of animals at its Nebraska chicken processing plant. They allege the company breeds chickens that are too big to stand, and the “disabled birds slowly die from hunger, thirst, injury, and illness.” They even go as far as to claim that the brutal mistreatment forms “an integral part of the company’s poultry production strategy and its business model.” Costco has previously insisted it holds the “the highest standards of animal welfare” in the wake of damning reports from animal welfare groups.