this is a witness account by a peta employee of events following a transport accident involving chickens. it shows not only some of the horrors chickens endure, but also how the peta people handled a hopeless and personally painful situation in what may have been, under the circumstances, the only way possible.
in friendship,
prad
:'(
No Greater Outrage
by Robyn Wesley
We heard about the accident on the radio. A truck carrying chickens to slaughter had overturned, and hundreds of yellow plastic crates containing nearly 5000 birds were scattered about the highway. DJs made jokes about chickens 'crossing the road'. I and other PETA staffers headed to the scene.
The owner of the trucking company was demanding that the birds be loaded back onto the truck and shipped to slaughter. We reminded law-enforcement officials that although the law is routinely flauted, it is illegal to transport injured animals to slaughter and that all the birds would have to be examined. The officers agreed, and a veterinarian went about examining the birds.
Some had been impaled on shards of broken crates or were bleeding where their combs had been ripped. Intestines trailed from living birds. Many were still in intact crates, but nevertheless had broken wings and legs from being roughly grabbed and shoved into the crates back at the farm. Some cried out, pathetic little wails that sounded exactly like infants' cries.
Uninjured birds were placed back on the truck. Soon it became apparent that examining several thousand birds would take all night and eventually, the truck driver got tired of waiting and left with some of the victims. Having come so close to sparing the birds from slaughter, it was heartbreaking to watch some of them being driven off into the darkness.
We would spend the rest of the night putting the injured and dying birds out of their misery.
We had to work quickly in teams to get the birds out of the crates hold them gently and let the humane officers inject them with sodium pentobaritol. I can still see the goose-pimple pink flesh of their necks. It looked delicate, and yet the needle would resist going in, then suddenly puncture the skin. It made me cringe every time, but the chickens never flinched; it was nothing compared to what they'd been through.
Long before they accident, most of the dead chickens we pulled out of those crates had withered away after an injury or illness had made them lame and unable to get to food and water.
I'd never touched a chicken before that night even though I'd grown up in Maryland's chicken country and was familiar with the barns where chickens were raised. My sister dated a chicken farmer's son in high school and he described walking through the barn each day to pick up the chickens who'd died overnight. Birds don't just die unless their living conditions are horrendous.
The truck carrying these birds was bound from North Carolina to a New Jersey slaughter house. It was a hot, humid day, with crates stacked ten high and many rows deep. The chickens in the outside crates were whipped by the wind, but those in the interior must have had it so much worse. I doubt fresh air even made it to them. They must have been suffocating from the stench of waste-covered birds around them and gasping for breath in the unforgiving heat. All this with no water, their cramped joints aching and no understanding of what was happening to them.
We were able to end the suffering of thousands of birds that night. After the initial shock subsided, we all went to work almost in a trance, but here and there, you'd hear someone scream out when they found a chicken with grotesque deformaties or injuries that happened mostly on the farm. Toes so curled that they looked like pretzels. One chicken's toes had gotten slammed in a crate. The ends were still plump, but the middle parts were flattened. Oozing sores, gouged-out eyes and missing toes. Not one looked like a normal chicken - they were all filthy and missing feathers.
Just after midnight, with hundreds of birds still awaiting help, we decided we needed reinforcements and somebody went off to rouse the interns from their beds. Many of them started to cry when they arrived. When a bird was clearly dying, Ingrid would instruct us, Hold them while they go which always caused the tears to well up.
At dawn, some chickens started crowing. I was struck by this thinking, this is the first time any of these birds have seen the sun rise. How did they know to announce it?
As I opened the final crate, I wanted to remember that these birds were individuals, not just flesh and feathers. The chicken inside stood up very tall, stretching his legs. He was so friendly and cooperative, with bright, golden eyes. A stately gentleman I knew for a brief moment. I picked him up, held him close, and really looked at him. I watched his face the whole time as he was injected: his eyes blinked, and then his head slowly fell onto my arm.
We looked like zombies when we returned to the PETA office, exhausted and numb. Our clothes were covered in feces, blood and filth; beyond saving, they had to be thrown away. I still cry as the memory of that night and all the birds who died unnoticed and unmourned by all but the few of us who witnessed their passing. Plutarch summed it up well: But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and the light, and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy. The only reason these birds lived was so that someone could eat their broken bodies, and I think there is no greater outrage.
I find this quite sad, and probably another case of the animal rights guys causing more harm than good. How exactly did the PETA people help? How far was the slaughter house that they stopped the driver continuing to? If close enough I bet they could have put them chickens out of their misery faster there than one guy with a needle. If it was too far away then get 5 farmers down there to wring their necks, it'd be faster, more humane, and above all some of them could have been eaten afterwards. "Holding them while they die" to comfort them is bloody nonsense.
Originally posted by belgianfreakperhaps you did not quite see what had happened here.
I find this quite sad, and probably another case of the animal rights guys causing more harm than good. How exactly did the PETA people help? How far was the slaughter house that they stopped the driver continuing to? If close enough I ...[text shortened]... "Holding them while they die" to comfort them is bloody nonsense.
the truck had overturned spilling the crates. many of the birds were seriously injured as a result and close to dying. i cannot tell you the exact distance to the new jersey slaughterhouse, but since it happened in north carolina we could be looking at 500 km or more as far as i can estimate on the map:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/united_states/united_states_pol02.jpg
the needle is considered a more humane way to end life than the slaughterhouse or wringing their necks by finding five farmers - i'll tell you about that in another post since you seem to doubt it.
eating the chickens afterwards perhaps misses the gist of the incident.
'holding them while they die', was the best that could be done. it is one of the gentlest ways to help a living being make the passage from their present life. people often hold their loved ones while they die be they humans or animals. these people extended this kindness to these birds for whom it was their first and only experience with human compassion.
in friendship,
prad
Thank you Prad for posting this terrible accident.
It is very important to make such events as public as possible.
No one should be able to say “I did not know” like our (German and Austrian) parents’ and grandparents’ generation so naively tried to make us believe after the crash of the Nazi-regime.
We all should know about the unbelievable tortures these poor animal creatures have to endure.
IF WE STILL SUPPORT THIS SYSTEM, WE DO IT IN FULL CONSCIOUSNESS!!!
Michael
Originally posted by belgianfreakhttp://www.consumerfreedom.com/release_detail.cfm?PR_ID=33
I find this quite sad, and probably another case of the animal rights guys causing more harm than good. How exactly did the PETA people help? How far was the slaughter house that they stopped the driver continuing to? If close enough I bet they could have put them chickens out of their misery faster there than one guy with a needle. If it was too far aw ...[text shortened]... have been eaten afterwards. "Holding them while they die" to comfort them is bloody nonsense.
Originally posted by Black LungI suppose, then, that you must feel the same way when you hear of a human dying. After all, there are over six billion humans, so why should any specific individual death cause a fuss. Do you then say, "They're just humans. They can be replaced"?
They're just chickens buddy.
They can be replaced.
-Ray.
Originally posted by Black Lungthey are 'replaced', black lung, at the approximate rate of
They're just chickens buddy.
They can be replaced.
7,949,708,000 in 2001
7,986,625,000 in 2002
(figures from usda poultry market news 202-720-6911)
this is in the US of course, the total yearly 'replacement' rate worldwide is somewhere around the 9 billion mark these days.
KFC (kentucky fried chicken) alone 'raises' 700 million chickens per year and i'll fill you in a bit about their 'replacement process':
"Chickens are inquisitive and interesting animals and are thought to be at least as intelligent as dogs or cats. When in natural surroundings, not on factory farms, they form friendships and social hierarchies, recognize one another, love their young, and enjoy a full life, dust bathing, making nests, roosting in trees, and more.
The more than 700 million chickens raised each year for KFC aren't able to do any of these things. They are crammed by the tens of thousands into sheds that stink of ammonia fumes from accumulated waste; they are given barely even room to move (each bird lives in the amount of space equivalent to a standard sheet of paper). They routinely suffer broken bones from being bred to be top heavy, from callous handling (workers roughly grab birds by their legs and stuff them into crates) and from being shackled upside down at slaughterhouses. Chickens are often still fully conscious as their throats are cut or when they are dumped into tanks of scalding hot water to remove their feathers. When they're killed, chickens are still babies, not yet two months old, out of a natural life span of 10-15 years."
(www.kfccruelty.com/)
'replacement' practises such as these are one reason peta and many other groups are campaigning against KFC. take a look at the website, you may be surprised at who is there and what can be done.
in friendship,
prad
This is what I don't understand. How some one no matter how well intentioned could waste so much painfull time in the life of any animal. These animals were allowed to suffer horribly until they died, (inevitably I might add) for what....so they could heal up just to be slaughtered. THESE POOR ANIMALS WERE SUFFERING. they should have been dispatched of IMMEDIATELY! Why would this happen???? This is outragious. To let an animal suffer needlessly is way beyond my scope. Some one who is a real humanitarian would end the suffering immidiatly and weep after. These particular P.E.T.A people are odviously low grade morons and should be flogged! For shame. All that: Just to make their empty, no good, dismal lives seem less dreary. They probobly jumped on that truck thinking " Ok boys now we really have a great oppertunity here. Hey margret, Make sure that chicken lives long enough for the media to show up.
They should be ashamed!
Mike
Originally posted by rapalla7mike, what exactly is your problem now?
This is what I don't understand. How some one no matter how well intentioned could waste so much painfull time in the life of any animal. These animals were allowed to suffer horribly until they died, (inevitably I might add) for what.... ...[text shortened]... enough for the media to show up.
They should be ashamed!
Mike
there were over a 1000 birds. the peta people worked throughout the night.
they worked as fast and as humanely as they could given the available resources.
why are you saying things like 'flogging low grade morons'?
why are you insisting that peta did all this as a publicity stunt?
do you really not understand what was actually happening?
or are you attempting to make a statement of some sort, irrespective of what appears in the article?
in friendship,
prad
Originally posted by pradtfWhat I said was the point. No problem.
mike, what exactly is your problem now?
there were over a 1000 birds. the peta people worked throughout the night.
they worked as fast and as humanely as they could given the available resources.
why are you saying things like 'flogging low grade morons'?
why are you insisting that peta did all this as a publicity stunt?
do you really not underst ...[text shortened]... a statement of some sort, irrespective of what appears in the article?
in friendship,
prad
Originally posted by belgianfreakBy far the most common sense post so far. Wring their necks to put them out of misery, get the road cleaned up, move on with life...HUMAN life that is....then go to KFC and get the x-tra crispy spicey 5 piece dinner...yum... 😏
I find this quite sad, and probably another case of the animal rights guys causing more harm than good. How exactly did the PETA people help? How far was the slaughter house that they stopped the driver continuing to? If close enough I bet they could have put them chickens out of their misery faster there than one guy with a needle. If it was too far aw ...[text shortened]... have been eaten afterwards. "Holding them while they die" to comfort them is bloody nonsense.