Inhoud
Animal Rights International records animal abuse in the catching of broiler chickens
An undercover operative from Animal Rights International filmed with a hidden camera how chickens are captured for slaughter in Hoogland in the Dutch province of Utrecht. The footage shows how a barn filled with tens of thousands of chickens is emptied in a few hours. The handling is rough: chickens are thrown into overflowing crates and animals that get in the way are kicked aside.
Animal Rights campaign leader Erwin Vermeulen: "In the livestock industry, animals are regarded as things that you can throw with.”
The fines for animal abuse in livestock farming are so low that it has no deterrent effect.
Throwing animals
With a hidden camera, it is recorded how the six-week-old chickens are brutally thrown into crates by the catch teams of poultry service companies MB Agriservice and Van de Pol. The crates are stuffed with chickens to overflowing. Chickens that get in the path of a new batch of empty crates are kicked or thrown out of the way. The footage shows how an employee throws a chicken through the shed because it is deemed too small for slaughter. Vermeulen: “Huge numbers of chickens have to be snatched from the ground and thrown into crates. Everything has to be done as fast as possible because time is money. The animals suffer as a result. “
Chickens to the slaughter
The collected chickens are transported to chicken slaughterhouse Van Den Bor in Nijkerkerveen. At this location, 140,000 chickens are slaughtered every day. On the website of the chicken slaughterhouse it is said that they know exactly what happens at the farm. That the slaughterhouse itself determines how the chickens are transported and that the transport meets the latest welfare requirements.
Everything has to be done as fast as possible because time is money. The animals suffer as a result.
Fines
The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is aware of the problems in catching chickens. In the first 6 months of 2017, the NVWA imposed 112 fines on poultry farmers who had taken insufficient measures to prevent catch-injuries, such as fractures and wounds. The administrative fine is 1,500 euros. Animal Rights NL will sent the incriminating undercover footage to the NVWA and calls on the inspection service to act.
Vermeulen: "The fines for animal abuse in livestock farming are so low that it has no deterrent effect. The current policy is out of date. "
This treatment is the norm
This is the third time this summer that Animal Rights releases footage of poultry being abused by catch teams: In Belgium, at duck breeders in the Veluwe area, and now at a chicken barn in the province of Utrecht. The poultry industry can no longer claim that these animal abuse cases are incidents. The abuse of chickens and ducks is the norm in this industry. The only way to not participate in it is to shift to a plant-based diet.
