At Case Farms, a major poultry producer in Burke County, workers reportedly crush chicks’ necks, run over them with carts, and let baby chickens die from neglect, all as part of standard operations.

And the worst part?

North Carolina courts just ruled that none of it counts as animal cruelty.

Because Case Farms raises chickens for food, a legal loophole says they’re exempt from North Carolina’s animal cruelty law, even if abuse is documented “nearly every day.”

That’s not farming.
That’s legalized torture.

In May 2025, the North Carolina Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit from Legal Impact for Chickens, saying the law doesn’t apply because the cruelty happens in a “lawful” business setting. The state’s Supreme Court refused to even review the case.

That means what Case Farms is accused of, including breaking baby animals’ bones, letting them die in piles, and treating cruelty as routine, is not only ignored, but now protected by law.

If this sounds wrong, it’s because it is.

No animal should suffer just because they’re born into a factory farm.
No business should be above the law.
And no judge should rubber-stamp cruelty.

We are demanding that North Carolina lawmakers close this loophole in the Protection of Animals Act. Specifically:

• End the automatic cruelty exemption for industrial poultry producers
• Ensure abuse cannot be shielded by “standard operating procedures”
• Apply the same cruelty standards to chickens that we apply to dogs and cats

Animals feel pain.
They feel fear.
And they deserve protection.

Sign this petition to tell the North Carolina General Assembly that you reject cruelty, no matter where it happens and no matter how powerful the business behind it may be.

Let’s make North Carolina safer for animals and more just for all of us.

Photo Credit: Carolina Journal