DEATH ON A FACTORY FARM
Death on a Factory Farm (2009)
HBO Documentary Films
Produced by Tom Simon and Sarah Teale
Premiere on March 16, 2009
Each year, ten billion animals are raised for consumption in the U.S., mostly on sprawling, industrialized farms, where virtually no federal laws mandate how the animals are treated - though guidelines exist - and state laws are ineffective. As a result, animals are frequently subjected to what many consider cruel treatment and inhumane conditions in the interest of economic efficiency. Death on a Factory Farm chronicles an undercover investigation into alleged abuses that took place at a hog farm in central Ohio. This shocking documentary is produced by Tom Simon and Sarah Teale, producers of the 2006 HBO America Undercover special Dealing Dogs, which received two Emmy nominations, including Best Documentary.
Three years in the making, Death on a Factory Farm follows the undercover investigation of Wiles Hog Farm by the animal rights group The Humane Farming Association (HFA), and the resulting court case against it. Acting on a tip from a farm employee that animals were being abused, HFA turned to an undercover investigator, "Pete" of Dealing Dogs, who wore a hidden camera while he worked as a farmhand at Wiles. The film follows Pete from his initial entry into this dangerous world of abuse to the raid and trial that followed.
