ALV’s Openrescue team have successfully completed 6 Openrescues in the first two months of 2008 removing a total of 64 exhausted, ill and emaciated birds (hens, roosters, chicks) from factory farms in Victoria and NSW.
Not all of these abused little birds have survived but the majority are now in good loving homes enjoying life. Seven tiny featherless bodies are dustbathing and sunbathing near me with great delight as I type this.
So why do we do what we do, going out in the middle of the night, crossing dark paddocks, sliding under electric fences or through barbed wire, jumping into ditches laying flat on our stomachs when cars pass by, hardly breathing if we hear strange noises? And when finally reaching the huge windowless sheds we quickly change into biosecure white uniforms, disinfect our footwear, slip on rubber gloves and a protective mouth mask to enter into the filthy, putrid and stinking world of the animals who are tortured for their flesh.
Why do we do this? To save as many lives as we can and to photograph and videotape the disgusting, cruel and unhealthy conditions to bring this universal horror to public attention so it can be STOPPED.
Our last rescue just five days ago brought tears to our eyes, one of our younger team members collapsed onto the floor alongside the tens of thousands of hens and roosters inside this shed and burst into tears. I don’t cry as much as I used to, but I also found myself down on the hard metal flooring sitting among the frail and featherless hens and young virile roosters who were repeatedly mating them and curled up in utter frustration and grief.
This night our team had planned to inspect some RSPCA approved barnlaid egg sheds (part of their Choose Wisely Campaign !?!) but upon arrival we discovered these sheds had been depopulated and were awaiting the next batch of victims. We’ve been inside these same sheds before and filmed the overcrowding, debeaking, cannibalism and torment.
As we stood in the cold night air at midnight near these empty sheds we could hear plaintive and eerie wailing noises followed by piercing screams in the distance. We followed our ears and several paddocks away we found two huge sheds both brightly lit in the middle of the night. Each shed was filled with exhausted, debeaked and debilitated hens suffering severe featherloss mixed together with young virile roosters. There were no cages, all the birds were tightly packed together on metal flooring. We saw a couple old battle scarred roosters limping about who had obviously missed the ‘old’ rooster cull. This is called ’spiking’ in the industry - where they kill the older male birds at around 50 weeks of age and replace them with young roosters to further boost the economic productivity of the already exhausted hens. Hens who are laying the eggs which after hatching will be the future battery hens, barnlaid hens and free range hens who lay the eggs people eat.
It was clear that the hens were being repeatedly mated with no escape, their backs were red raw. The hens are ISA laying hens. The shed was extremely overcrowded, the birds had little room to move, and the thousands upon thousands of birds had only hard metal flooring to stand on and their claws were sore and damaged. You can see the photos we took below, but these won’t let you hear their chilling screams and wails. The conditions were so appalling and distressing for these feeble birds that it reduced rescue team members to tears. But our loyalty to these suffering animals will NEVER EVER be reduced. We are there for them and will do whatever it takes to help them.
You can help. Please forward this blog to your family and friends so they know who they are eating and that there’s a better way, so we can all live healthy and fulfilling lives!
For a vegan world, Patty
A bald rescued hen at her new sanctuary
Sitting on a friendly lap
i haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate this