Nora Springs resident wins national PETA award

To The Press

Nora Springs resident Jeremy Schmidt has received PETA’s 2025 Nanci Alexander Activist Award, for reporting Pure Prairie Poultry’s actions leaving thousands of chickens on trucks for as long as five days with no food or water, outside the now-shuttered Charles City factory.

Schmidt was presented with the award on Sunday during People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ 45th-anniversary celebration in Miami.

Schmidt, a 38-year-old Iraq War veteran who worked at the facility, said he was alarmed when the company left its contract farms without feed for millions of chickens.

He said he “knew we had to get PETA involved” after executives gave employees conflicting accounts about the birds’ welfare. The information Schmidt provided helped prompt Iowa and Minnesota officials to feed millions of starving birds and sparked an ongoing federal investigation.

“No living being should ever endure what those chickens did when Pure Prairie Poultry left them to starve to death, and I’m grateful that PETA was there to fight for them,” says Schmidt. “I’m honored to be recognized by PETA and proud to have spoken up for those who couldn’t advocate for themselves.”

Schmidt has lived in Nora Springs for more than 30 years. He and his wife, Cambria, have three children.

PETA’s Nanci Alexander Activist Award is presented annually to an individual “whose actions on behalf of animals are helping to change the world and move PETA’s vital work for animals forward.”