DRESDEN, Tenn. – The owners of a poultry farm formerly under contract to Tyson Foods Inc. entered guilty pleas to misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, according to news reports.

On Oct. 29, Thomas and Susan Blassingame, owners of T&S Farms, entered their pleas in Weakley County, Tenn., General Sessions Court. The couple was fined $25 and court costs and given one year of probation.


The charges stemmed from an undercover video taken at T&S Farms which purported to show the Blassingames clubbing birds and other abuses. Animal welfare group Mercy For Animals released the video in September. Nathan Runkle, president of MFA, called the sentences “a pathetic slap on the wrist, unlikely to deter future acts of violence against animals.”