ROCKINGHAM, NC – A man working for a contract poultry grower for Salisbury, Md.-based Perdue Farms was sentenced to 45 days behind bars and 12 months of probation on three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

Danny Cajija Miranda, 22, was caught on video abusing chickens at Deese Farms. Mercy For Animals, a Los Angeles-based animal welfare group, took the undercover video which was released in December. In a statement, Perdue thanked Mercy for Animals, “for uncovering clear animal abuse by an individual on a farm raising our chickens, and we appreciate law enforcement’s prompt action against the perpetrator.”


On Jan. 1, a property protection law went into effect that criminalizes undercover video investigations in North Carolina. Lawmakers passed the so-called “ag-gag” law after North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory vetoed the bill in June 2015.