AR-News: Battery Hen Farm Horror

[UPC News]

Battery Hen Farm Horror; Activists liberate 44 hens from Shocking Conditions

Auckland Animal Action (AAA) have received a tip off from animal rights
activists about the welfare of hens at a Battery Egg Farm located at 757
Glenbrook Road (corner of Kingseat Road), Glenbrook, south of Auckland.

"AAA was informed, in detail, of the horrific conditions which these hens
have been subjected to at this particular farm and we have received
extensive photographs and video footage taken yesterday morning (11.2.04),
which was obtained by the activists." says Deidre Sims, AAA spokesperson.

"Inside the shed, long rows of tiered small wire cages, were filled with the
decomposing bodies of thousands of hens which had obviously starved to death
due to an inadequate food supply and the complete lack of drinking water.
Live, emancipated hens shared their cages with their dead companions.  Other
live sickly hens were  loose inside the building as well as outside the
property. Dozens of rats, were all over the premises, many were seen inside
the cages living off the dead birds. Heaped piles of the putrid, rotting
bodies of hens where found throughout the building. The flooring was covered
in excrement which was, in some places, several inches thick."

In the video footage and photographs obtained, a large box which is labeled
"Handle with care: Property of Mainland Poultry Ltd" can be clearly seen.

Footage also includes activists rescuing birds. Fourty four sick, emaciated
hens were rescued by the activists and have been placed in loving homes and
are receiving veterinary care.

"As an organisation of people deeply concerned with the welfare and rights
of animals, we were sickened and appalled while watching the video footage
of the horrendous conditions within this farm and at the extreme and
unnecessary suffering which these hens have endured and some still continue
to endure. This farm is clearly in violation of the five basic requirements
of the Codes of Welfare for Layer Hens which are that, hens must be free
from thirst, hunger and malnutrition, that there must be provision of
appropriate comfort and shelter, that there must be prevention of injury,
disease or infection, that the hens must be free from distress and that they
must have the ability to display natural patterns of behavior."


For further information, contact Deirdre Sims, AAA spokesperson, 0211847456