Scorned grower arrested in Pilgrim’s Pride chicken deaths

GREELEY – Authorities have arrested a man in connection with the deaths of more than 300,000 chickens raised by farmers in rural South Carolina who contract with Greeley-based Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. (Nasdaq: PPC), according to media reports.

Clarendon County sheriff’s deputies last week arrested chicken grower James Laverne Lowery, accused of killing 325,000 chickens. Deputies said Lowery killed the chickens after Pilgrim’s Pride terminated a contract with him.

Sheriff’s deputies did not respond to requests for comment from BizWest. Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett previously told the newspaper that whomever killed the chickens “has a very big ax to grind with Pilgrim’s Pride.”

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Chicken growers who supply birds to Pilgrim’s Pride, lost an estimated $1.7 million because of the killings, Garrett told BizWest. The farmers contract with Pilgrim’s Pride to grow chickens for the company’s prepared foods facility in Sumter, S.C.

Alarm systems were bypassed and temperatures were adjusted in chicken houses on several farms in Clarendon County, Garrett said. Temperatures were lowered in houses containing younger birds, which need more heat. Temperatures were raised in houses containing older birds, which need cooler climates.

Pilgrim’s Pride had offered $50,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The company employs 1,600 people in the area, and it partners with more than 90 chicken growers that it pays more than $24 million annually.

Cameron Bruett, spokesman for Greeley’s JBS USA, the meatpacker that owns a controlling interest in Pilgrim’s Pride, said the arrest did not appear to result from a tip offered by anyone.