Undercover investigations play an important role in exposing the atrocities that take place in hatcheries. A hatchery is a facility that hatches millions of chickens each year, often in cramped and unsanitary conditions. These facilities are known for atrocities, such as the mass destruction of male chicks, which are considered useless by the egg industry because they cannot lay eggs.
In a hatchery, a chick raised for meat pecks an egg. Around him were hundreds of other chicks, and the air was filled with their chirping calls for their mother, whom they would never see again.
Suddenly, the hatching basket was opened and he was pulled out by rough hands and thrown onto the conveyor belt. As the conveyor belt moves, workers separate sick, unwanted chicks and either throw them in a trash can filled with spoiled, rotten eggs, or throw them in the chute leading to the blender, where they are crushed alive.
Workers stacked containers full of chicks on top of each other and some got stuck and crushed between them. The crates with tens of thousands of chicks are loaded onto a large truck and transported to the factory farm. At this point, it is very hungry and thirsty because the last nutrients left from its yolk sac have been used up. After arriving, crate after crate, the birds were piled up.
For seven weeks, the chicks lived in the coop, never seeing sunlight or breathing fresh air. Because he was bred to gain as much weight as possible, his bones and heart couldn’t keep up with his rapid growth. In this short period of time, his weight increased from 1.5 ounces to more than 9 pounds. This is equivalent to a baby gaining more than 600 pounds in 2 months. His legs couldn’t take the strain of holding his body, and it became difficult and painful for him to walk. His feet and chest developed open sores, and this was made worse by urine and stool build-up on the floor.
The barn is never cleaned and the ammonia in the air burns the chicks’ eyes and lungs. Some birds die from heart attacks, infections or dehydration when they are immobilized due to broken legs.
One day, some workers entered the warehouse. One of them grabbed the chicken by the leg and lifted it upside down. The worker caught three more chickens and stuffed them all into a crate. The chicken wing got caught in the opening of the crate, but the worker still managed to get through and his wing was broken. He crouched painfully in the corner as bird after bird was loaded into the crate, until there was no room left to move.
The chicken was transported in the truck for two days without food or water until it reached the slaughterhouse. It was very cold outside and there was no protection from the weather on the truck. Some of the chickens froze to death. When the chicken arrived at the slaughterhouse, it was pulled from the crate and hung upside down by its legs from the shackles of the slaughter line. One of his legs was broken by the force of this action. He was put through a pool of water that passed an electric current through his body, intended to stun him. However, for about 90 million chickens in the US, this method of anesthesia doesn’t work, and they enter the next stage, a rotating blade that automatically cuts its throat, fully awake. Some of them will drown in a pool of boiling water afterwards and then be discarded.
Investigate our secrets: Save millions of chickens from suffering
While we work to prevent animal cruelty, we also fight against advertising that deceptively deceives consumers. Many companies advertise meat products using images of animals happy to live outside and terms like “free-range”, “natural” and “humane”. We’ve brought legal challenges to corporations for making false claims about animal welfare and sustainability, and stopped them from continuing to mislead consumers.
Animal Equality investigators entered a hatchery in California and witnessed repeatedly the cruel and callous behavior towards chicks by a key supplier to the popular restaurant chain Chick-fil- A. Our investigators have documented numerous violations of the law, including chicks that were mutilated or crushed by machines, severely injured for hours before being killed in a mechanical shredder, and get burned or drowned when the tray they were stuck on goes through the washing machine.
Animal Equality presented evidence of breaking the law to the authorities and we hold the company accountable.
In Italy, we conducted a Breakthrough investigation revealed the meat industry’s chicken cruelty from a new perspective.
With the help of professional veterinarians, X-rays and tests, we have shown how to genetically select for fast-growing chickens—the most widely bred in Italy and other sites. industrial camps around the world—causing them to suffer constant pain and premature death. We are asking the Italian government to ban fast-growing chicken breeds and support a ban on genetic selection for rapid growth in chickens.
With an innovative approach, Animal Equality has partnered with Público, a leading media agency in Spain, to release a investigation of a spanish factory farm. We have documented the rapid growth of chickens by visiting the same farm in different life stages and revealed that many chickens cannot stand because of their large, heavy bodies and burns. on the skin due to frequent contact with urine and feces. garbage. Chickens have nowhere to move and are forced to drink water from moldy gutters.
Confessed equality Leaked footage from a German farm supplied the country’s largest chicken producer, Wiesenhof. We have released harrowing footage of chickens showing multiple violations of animal welfare regulations. The birds were kicked and jostled by workers, and subjected to inhuman and ineffective methods of killing, such as twisting their necks, which left them writhing in pain for several minutes until they died.
We have filed a complaint with the German authorities asking for criminal charges against the farmers.
our investigator disturbing abuse material on eight UK chicken farms, including Moy Park, a supplier of McDonald’s and a Tesco supermarket. On farms, chickens cannot reach the water because the trough is raised too high for the smaller and weaker birds to reach. The birds suffered skin burns from unsanitary conditions and high ammonia levels and died in agony as workers slowly strangled them.
Animal equality survey three Red Tractor Certified Farm in the UK supplied to major retailers after a whistleblower reported animal cruelty.
Our investigation revealed that dozens of birds had collapsed under the weight of their unusually large bodies and were unable to stand, dead birds rotting among the living and wonderful chickens. hope to eat other birds. Workers violently break the birds’ necks and let them convulse in the midst of the flock. The dying birds were thrown into the pile of corpses and left for hours, and the workers deliberately kicked and stepped on the chickens.
We exposure to several Italian chicken factory farms, where birds live their whole lives in dirty, barren cages. Animal Equality investigators have documented chickens with difficulty breathing, unable to stand and deformed legs. Many chickens die before reaching the slaughterhouse
In the major chicken-producing states of India, Animal Equality find the most basic animal welfare violations and food safety standards. The birds are transported to the slaughterhouse for days without access to food or water. When they arrived at the meat market, the birds were kept in packed crates for hours to days and contracted painful infections.
When slaughtered, chickens suffer for several minutes before dying, their bodies stripped of feathers and handled in filthy conditions. Animal Equality has asked the Indian government to ban the slaughter of chickens in meat markets and enforce animal protection laws.
What can you do
Our investigations are important in making progress in chicken protection. We will continue to fight for the lives of chickens by revealing the truth about the meat industry and animal exploitation.
You can help chickens in the meat industry by removing animals from your plate and choosing plant-based foods instead.
LIVE HAPPILY
With a rich love life and unbreakable family ties, pets deserve protection. You can build a kinder world by replacing animal food products with plant-based products.
