Bob Barker has always taken great pride in protecting animal rights and his mission continues at age 91.
Barker teamed up with the Mercy for Animals organization to publicly shame Foster Farms, a major poultry producer on the West Coast, for their cruelty toward animals, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The former host of "The Price Is Right" narrated a secretly taped video demonstrating the inhumane treatment of chickens at the company's slaughtering plants in Fresno, Calif.
The video showed chickens being hung carelessly by their legs on conveyor belts, factory works punching and plucking the feathers of live birds, and dunking chickens into a vat of boiling water if they missed the "kill blade."
Mercy for Animals founder Nathan Runkle called the footage shot between April and May, "some of the worst we have ever seen." The footage was screened for reporters on Wednesday at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.
Following the screening, Foster Farms suspended five employees who were either "directly involved in the abuse or failed to report it to management," the company said in a statement (via The Associate Press).
Barker also took issue with the American Humane Association, which monitors the treatment of animal performers used in TV and film shoots. He used to revere the organization until he learned they weren't performing the service they had set out to do.
"I was suddenly made aware of what they really are, and I have absolutely no respect for the American Humane Association," Barker told reporters (via The Hollywood Reporter). "I think they have failed miserably in their efforts to protect animals in the movie industry, and obviously they have failed miserably in any protection for animals in this food industry."
The nonagenarians Barker and Betty White may be the last celebrities ringing the bell on this type of cruelty toward animals and the longtime game show host doesn't have much hope for a successor.
"I don't think there is anyone doing that, unfortunately," he said.
