Our communities deserve

beautiful spaces

Our mission is to free residential communities from slaughterhouses.

Ending Backyard slaughter

In DeKalb County, Georgia, there are two known slaughterhouses operating on residential properties. While both operations have been known to the county and neighbors for years, and thousands of animals have been killed since, little action has been taken to stop slaughter.

In order to end backyard slaughter in Georgia, we want to partner with the county, neighbors, and the respective business owners to help transition these businesses into cruelty-free operations.

These communities deserve successful businesses that beautify their areas and do not rely on animal exploitation. Join us in ending backyard slaughter and building up our neighborhoods.

The Problem with Backyard Slaughter

Animal Abuse

According to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, as of November 1, 2022, Bradford Livestock has slaughtered 7,209 animals. 5,709 animals have been slaughtered since DeKalb County issued a cease and desist order.

3,225 Sheep

2,951 Goats

136 Pigs

21 Cows

Slaughterhouses & the Community

Slaughterhouses are incredibly dangerous places to work, with high incidences of injury and hospitalization. The workforce is often made up of the most marginalized members of communities, and slaughterhouses flourish in impoverished and underserved areas. 1

Slaughterhouse employment has been linked to a community-wide rise in total arrest rates, as well as an increase in arrest rates for violent crime, domestic violence, rape, and other sexual offenses. 2

Slaughterhouses create poor neighborhoods. Property surrounding slaughterhouses is devalued by the smells, sounds, and sights of an operational slaughterhouse, along with the environmental detriment it brings. 3

Slaughterhouses are resource and water intensive, and function as reservoirs of bacterial, viral, prion, and parasitic pathogens capable of infecting both animals and humans. This environmental burden is often placed on the low-income, minority communities that slaughterhouses both find and create. 4

Other than seeing, hearing, and smelling animals in captivity every day, neighbors of these backyard slaughterhouses have reported hearing gunshots from the property as they’ve been subjected to nearly a years-long struggle between the businesses and DeKalb County. This struggle comes at the expense of the neighbors and neighborhood, as little has been done to stop or even slow the slaughterhouse operation despite neighbors voicing their concerns.

Most frustrating to the community is the lack of enforcement of DeKalb County Code, and how little has been done to hear and then address their complaints.

SOURCES:

1) Winders, DJ & Abrell, E. “Slaughterhouse Workers, Animals, and the Environment: The Need for a Rights-Centered Regulatory Framework in the United States That Recognizes Interconnected Interests.” Health Hum Rights. 2021 Dec.

2) Fitzgerald, Amy & Kalof, Linda & Dietz, Thomas. “Slaughterhouses and Increased Crime Rates: An Empirical Analysis of the Spillover from ‘The Jungle’ Into the Surrounding Community.” Organization & Environment. ORGAN ENVIRON. 22. 158-184. 2009.

3) Leidig, Kally. 2020. “The Effect of CAFOs on Neighboring House and Land Values.” Midwest Environmental Advocates. 2020.

4) Franke-Whittle, Ingrid & Insam, Heribert. “Treatment alternatives of slaughterhouse wastes, and their effect on the inactivation of different pathogens: a review.” Crit Rev Microbiol. 2013 May;39(2):139-51.

Craig Watts
North Carolina

Craig Watts farmed chickens under the exploitative contract system for over twenty years before he decided enough was enough. Farming chickens for slaughter and consumption left Perdue, the parent company, making all of the money and Watts with debt and suffering chickens. Watts grows mushrooms on his family farm today, aided by Transfarmation, a transition initiative powered by Mercy for Animals.

The Possibility in Transformation

Halley Farm
Texas

Bo and Sam Halley, brothers who began in the chicken farming industry over thirty years ago, transitioned to a plant-producing hemp farm after years of hardship and suffering under the contract system. In the summer of 2020 the farm experienced their first successful hemp harvest, and are expanding their operation with the help of Transfarmation.