Campaign for Fresh Air
2008-03-13 17:34:49 UTC
SAVED! Chickens rescued from factory farm
Six sick and ailing chickens were rescued from an intensive broiler
shed and taken to a vet last week during the course of an Animal Aid
undercover investigation into modern broiler bird production. Sadly,
one of the six has died, but a second is beginning to improve and the
rest are recovering well.
http://tinyurl.com/36hr5t
Sick chickens freed from 'hellhole' shed
Posted 10 March 2008
Six sick and ailing chickens were rescued from an intensive broiler
shed and taken to a vet last week during the course of an Animal Aid
undercover investigation into modern broiler bird production.
The national campaign group had made three previous visits to the
30,000-bird capacity unit, which is typical of such establishments
across Britain. The farm held a total of more than 150,000 birds.
The visits were conducted in order to film the alarmingly swift
progress of the birds from lively chicks to bloated, lethargic and
virtually immobilised inhabitants of a shed that because of their
rapid growth now offered them virtually no room in which to move.
On the last visit, the birds were still only 39 days old. Yet, within
three days, they were to be loaded onto lorries and taken to a killing
factory.
Shed records showed that about 1,500 chickens had died or been
culled within the unit. Despite the victims being removed daily by
workers, numerous dead birds were filmed by the national campaign
group. Some were heaped into bins, others were found on the shed
floor.
Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have
recently drawn welcome attention to the suffering of broiler chickens.
But their solution has been to promote so called high welfare
production systems. These offer the birds a little more space, or make
use of chickens selectively bred to grow more slowly in an attempt to
reduce the burden on their leg joints and lungs. In a recent letter to
Jamie and Hugh, Animal Aid Director Andrew Tyler argued that high
welfare systems can only ever have a marginal impact and that the
fundamental problem is the commodification of these birds Animal Aid
believes that it is cruel and immoral to treat animals as commodities,
which is why we promote the non-animal diet.
The shocking filmed evidence Animal Aid has gathered on our recent
multiple visits to the broiler farm reveals precisely what happens
when animals are treated as commodities.
Says Animal Aid Head of Campaigns Kate Fowler-Reeves, who led the
undercover team:
Witnessing so many animals suffering without any hope of release was
overwhelming. Dead and dying birds littered the sodden floor, while
live ones limped and fell over them. This terrible existence is
endured by hundreds of millions of birds every year in this country
alone. But for five of the six birds we were able to remove, there
remains hope. One girl who we found huddled and dehydrated beneath a
feed dispenser sadly did not survive. But another, who was found
sprawled across the shed floor, gasping for breath, has responded well
to treatment and is slowly recovering her strength. The other four had
legs and joints so painfully inflamed that they could not stand or
walk, but over the weekend ventured into the sunlight for the very
first time in their lives. For these birds, its a happy ending; but
for the 30,000 who shared a shed with them, there was yet more
suffering to endure. Sick, lame and distressed, these birds who are
just 42 days old were sent to slaughter.
Notes to Editors
Watch a film of the investigation and of the rescued chickens in their
new home.
http://tinyurl.com/2s553c
http://tinyurl.com/3csd8n
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_factory/ALL/1748//
The poultry industry is divided into two main sectors: egg and meat
production. Laying hens are a strain bred specifically for high volume
egg production. Broiler chickens have been manipulated, through
selective breeding techniques, to make them grow at around twice their
natural rate. They grow so big and so fast that their legs are unable
to support their weight and they frequently collapse. Broilers are
slaughtered at just six weeks of age when they are still immature.
Around 855 million chickens are slaughtered annually in the UK for an
industry worth about £2bn a year. Approximately 95 per cent of these
birds are intensively farmed inside huge sheds. By the end of the
growing cycle, each bird has only 0.5 square ft of floor space and
must push his or her way through a solid mass of other chickens to
reach food and water points. Because serious leg problems are endemic,
many die in the attempt.
They are also vulnerable to heart attacks, septicaemia, and to fatty
livers and kidneys. They additionally suffer a high incidence of
deformities, caused by arthritis, together with the stress of carrying
so much weight on young bones. Nearly one-third have difficulty in
walking or cannot walk at all, despite the fact that many of the
weaker birds are culled inside the sheds.
Many broiler chickens also die from ascites: their growth rate is so
rapid that their heart, lungs and circulatory system struggle to
maintain sufficient oxygen levels. This results in breathlessness and
distended abdomens caused by a build-up of yellow or bloodstained
fluid. Respiratory or heart failure kills one in 20 birds.
Six sick and ailing chickens were rescued from an intensive broiler
shed and taken to a vet last week during the course of an Animal Aid
undercover investigation into modern broiler bird production. Sadly,
one of the six has died, but a second is beginning to improve and the
rest are recovering well.
http://tinyurl.com/36hr5t
Sick chickens freed from 'hellhole' shed
Posted 10 March 2008
Six sick and ailing chickens were rescued from an intensive broiler
shed and taken to a vet last week during the course of an Animal Aid
undercover investigation into modern broiler bird production.
The national campaign group had made three previous visits to the
30,000-bird capacity unit, which is typical of such establishments
across Britain. The farm held a total of more than 150,000 birds.
The visits were conducted in order to film the alarmingly swift
progress of the birds from lively chicks to bloated, lethargic and
virtually immobilised inhabitants of a shed that because of their
rapid growth now offered them virtually no room in which to move.
On the last visit, the birds were still only 39 days old. Yet, within
three days, they were to be loaded onto lorries and taken to a killing
factory.
Shed records showed that about 1,500 chickens had died or been
culled within the unit. Despite the victims being removed daily by
workers, numerous dead birds were filmed by the national campaign
group. Some were heaped into bins, others were found on the shed
floor.
Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have
recently drawn welcome attention to the suffering of broiler chickens.
But their solution has been to promote so called high welfare
production systems. These offer the birds a little more space, or make
use of chickens selectively bred to grow more slowly in an attempt to
reduce the burden on their leg joints and lungs. In a recent letter to
Jamie and Hugh, Animal Aid Director Andrew Tyler argued that high
welfare systems can only ever have a marginal impact and that the
fundamental problem is the commodification of these birds Animal Aid
believes that it is cruel and immoral to treat animals as commodities,
which is why we promote the non-animal diet.
The shocking filmed evidence Animal Aid has gathered on our recent
multiple visits to the broiler farm reveals precisely what happens
when animals are treated as commodities.
Says Animal Aid Head of Campaigns Kate Fowler-Reeves, who led the
undercover team:
Witnessing so many animals suffering without any hope of release was
overwhelming. Dead and dying birds littered the sodden floor, while
live ones limped and fell over them. This terrible existence is
endured by hundreds of millions of birds every year in this country
alone. But for five of the six birds we were able to remove, there
remains hope. One girl who we found huddled and dehydrated beneath a
feed dispenser sadly did not survive. But another, who was found
sprawled across the shed floor, gasping for breath, has responded well
to treatment and is slowly recovering her strength. The other four had
legs and joints so painfully inflamed that they could not stand or
walk, but over the weekend ventured into the sunlight for the very
first time in their lives. For these birds, its a happy ending; but
for the 30,000 who shared a shed with them, there was yet more
suffering to endure. Sick, lame and distressed, these birds who are
just 42 days old were sent to slaughter.
Notes to Editors
Watch a film of the investigation and of the rescued chickens in their
new home.
http://tinyurl.com/2s553c
http://tinyurl.com/3csd8n
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/NEWS/news_factory/ALL/1748//
The poultry industry is divided into two main sectors: egg and meat
production. Laying hens are a strain bred specifically for high volume
egg production. Broiler chickens have been manipulated, through
selective breeding techniques, to make them grow at around twice their
natural rate. They grow so big and so fast that their legs are unable
to support their weight and they frequently collapse. Broilers are
slaughtered at just six weeks of age when they are still immature.
Around 855 million chickens are slaughtered annually in the UK for an
industry worth about £2bn a year. Approximately 95 per cent of these
birds are intensively farmed inside huge sheds. By the end of the
growing cycle, each bird has only 0.5 square ft of floor space and
must push his or her way through a solid mass of other chickens to
reach food and water points. Because serious leg problems are endemic,
many die in the attempt.
They are also vulnerable to heart attacks, septicaemia, and to fatty
livers and kidneys. They additionally suffer a high incidence of
deformities, caused by arthritis, together with the stress of carrying
so much weight on young bones. Nearly one-third have difficulty in
walking or cannot walk at all, despite the fact that many of the
weaker birds are culled inside the sheds.
Many broiler chickens also die from ascites: their growth rate is so
rapid that their heart, lungs and circulatory system struggle to
maintain sufficient oxygen levels. This results in breathlessness and
distended abdomens caused by a build-up of yellow or bloodstained
fluid. Respiratory or heart failure kills one in 20 birds.