14 Month Chicken Industry Investigation January 2004 - March 2005 Victoria, Australia

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Rescue Reports

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Rescue 06: Parkhurst Farm (Shed 1): 7 birds removed
june 6, 2004

When the rescue team arrived last night at 7:30 pm, we realised that Shed 4 was being depopulated (according to Parkhurst Farms' council permit removal of birds is only to commence after 11:00 pm). After waiting a short time we decided to enter Shed 1 to do a rescue and investigation. This is the third batch of birds we have investigated since January; each batch goes for eight weeks.

Six activists entered the shed at approximately 8:40 pm. It was dark inside. We used torchlight and video camera light to assess the situation. We estimated the birds in the shed to be around six weeks old. Immediately on entering the shed we found several dead birds and numerous crippled ones who were unable to move. We were only in a small section of the shed for about a half hour but witnessed around twenty dead birds in various stages of decomposition and numerous birds in ill health and unable to stand.

One especially distressing event was finding a dying bird. Other birds were trampling on her quivering body as fluid poured from her mouth. It struck me that all the dead bodies we witnessed that night would have all suffered similar deaths, in pain and totally neglected and abandoned by those in control at Parkhurst Farms.

Two of the birds we removed were near death. One died within the hour and the other one died in a rescuer’s arms about 15 hours later, another three are unable to stand or even hold their heads up. Another two can possibly survive, though one has a twisted crippled neck and the other a badly deformed claw. All the rescued birds were dehydrated and drank large amounts of water. The water outlets in the shed were quite high and out of reach of all these birds.

Each and every time the rescue team have entered Parkhurst Farm Sheds we find the same cruel conditions and on-going suffering. The air is putrid and filled with dust particles, dead bodies are left to decompose amongst the living birds. The baby chickens that are bred to gain weight quickly are crowded together with many suffering lameness, crippling deformities and ill health.

Click on photo for larger version (photo: noah hannibal / ALV)

unable to reach food and water, this bird would have eventually died of dehydration if not taken to a vet by the ALV rescue team

more photos: photo gallery