introduction | rescue reports | photo gallery Rescue Reports [01] [02] [03] [04] [05] [06] [07] [08] [09] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] Rescue 11: Parkhurst Farm (Shed 1): 8 birds removed Five rescue team members attended rescue eleven on Monday evening, spending an hour inside the shed between 10:00 and 11:00 pm. It rained a great deal during our inspection and there was a lot of mud around the shed when we made our exit. Conditions were very bad in the shed with my eyes were still burning the next day. Some rescue team members had to leave the shed occasionally because the smell was so overwhelming, others felt dizzy. The lights were out in the shed but it definitely wasn’t a quiet rest/sleep time for the birds. There was loud machinery noise in the shed the entire time we were inside. This deafening noise seemed to be the feeder operations, yet there was no feed coming into the feeder outlets. The sound was like being next to a chainsaw non-stop for over an hour (for us), for the unfortunate birds, who knows? - It could have gone on like that all night. The chicks are now approximately five weeks old, yet their abnormally large bodies already densely covered the floor. They were more nervous than normal and we had to move very slowly and gently through the shed. We found very badly decomposing bodies under the live birds, some were being eaten and pecked at, and one corpse was totally flat it had been there so long. The litter was in horrible condition, very dense and packed (and it's only week five, there are three more weeks of accumulated excrement to go). It was impossible for us to access any of the shed walls as we normally do, as the birds were so thickly crammed up against all the walls and over most of the floor area. It was extremely hard to find a place to put your foot to move around. We only had our torchlight and the video camera light. Even then we kept finding crippled, lame and deformed birds... there is no doubt in my mind, had the lights been on, we would have found hundreds of birds needing help. Those we did rescue were severely dehydrated and could not access the water. They eagerly drank large amounts both in the shed when held to the water outlets, and again at home in a warm quiet environment. There was a new half meter high mesh fence erected inside the shed dividing the half sections, we assume to make it easier to do a partial depopulation, which we estimate will occur soon, considering the large numbers of young birds, yet lack of space in the shed with This rescue proved to be very upsetting for team members, especially those of us who have been inside shed 1 with this same batch of birds for four visits. It was very frustrating and heartbreaking to see these chicks deteriorating over time to the pathetic mess we found last night. These infant birds have had to cope with dampness, the sopping wet litter conditions of the first few weeks, stench, foul air/atmosphere, dead rotting bodies, loud relentless noise, lameness and their inability to easily access food and water (if they can at all). We know we will only be in these hellish conditions an hour or so each visit; these infant birds never get one second of relief from their torment. Click on any photo for larger version (photos: noah hannibal / ALV)
more photos: photo gallery To receive future rescue notifications enter your e-mail address below.
|
