The lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court against the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

PETA claims that electric stunning prior to slaughter violates California’s Humane Slaughter Law, which requires that animals be rendered insensible to pain before being cut and bled, as well as the California Penal Code, which prohibits torturing, maiming, and cruelly killing any animal.

PETA contends that one-third of chickens are inadequately electrocuted in California slaughterhouses, leaving them conscious and able to feel pain as their throats are slit, citing scientific reports published in peer-reviewed journals.

The organisation is aiming for a ban on electric stunning before slaughter, which is currently believed to be the most common procedure used in California’s poultry slaughterhouses.