It goes without saying that Big Meat is a very secretive bunch. They don’t want anyone to EVER pry into their business of just how the sausage is made, and with good reason.

Too often Big Meat finds itself on the losing end of lawsuits ranging from price fixing to worker safety to treatment and welfare of animals and more. The list of wrongdoing is seemingly endless. If any industry needs to be watched like a hawk, it’s Big Meat.

And what’s more hawk-like than to use drones to investigate potential illegal operations of Big Ag in general and Big Meat in particular?

In 2011, North Texas freelancer Brandon Wade was out flying his drone over the Trinity River, and what Wade recorded was shocking. The Oak Cliff based Columbia Packing Company was diverting pig blood into a creek that flowed directly into Trinity River. Wade took the video to the Dallas County authorities who wasted no time taking their own look-see.