[Animals] Appeal against "free hen" egg company: "The green meadow that they show is not like that"

[FNX Magokiler]

As part of its #FalsaLibertad campaign, the NGO Animal Libre made a complaint against the company Ecoterra, supplier of eggs for "free chickens", in which they accuse it of keeping the animals in overcrowded conditions, causing them greater stress.

In a video, narrated by the animator Matías Vega, they argue that "there were several days of investigation where we recorded thousands of chickens in crowded sheds, stepping on each other, without even being able to spread their wings, something very far from the publicity they show in their campaigns" .

The organization points to a hatchery located in the Paine commune, south of the Metropolitan Region, and points out that its purpose is to “make visible the exploitation, mistreatment, overcrowding and injustice that these birds live in one of the largest farms of the company Ecoterra, which talks about freedom and animal welfare to promote the sale of their eggs ”.

In conversation with CNN Chile, Daniela Miranda, president of Animal Libre, explained that the complaint arose as a result of complaints by neighbors, who say that the space generates a series of annoyances, such as bad smells, excessive noise from animals and suspended material derived from its operations.

“The green meadow that they show is not like that. When we went to record we found a peladero full of boards with nails, full of garbage, plumage, and in one of the sheds they released the chickens, but they were far from being in a green meadow, it was a long place that had dirt and sticks with nails. There are sheds where the hens have been locked up since December of last year, which have not come out and they are supposed to be free hens, ”said Miranda.

"Deep down, what we also mean by this is to question what is the concept of free-range chickens that are sold, because they are not in the cages in which they are generally, but they are in a larger cage also crowded," he added.

 

 

Protection appeal
The NGO presented a protection appeal that this week was declared admissible by the San Miguel Court of Appeals.

Nicolás Retamales, a neighbor of the sector and one of those affected, accused that “as a result of this situation of permanent noise pollution that has become unsustainable, we have been deprived of the possibility of living and working quietly from our homes, altering, also, our sleep patterns, causing insomnia, stress, nervous tension ”.

"As a result, we have been forced to lock ourselves in our homes, without being able to make use of the different open spaces of our buildings, having been the main reason for choosing the sector to live," he added.

For his part, Diego Figueroa, legal director of the group, said that “the communities that are located in the area of influence of the project have been affected by the continuous growth experienced in this poultry farm, which has led to a significant increase in noise pollution. and bad odors, which results from the lack of compliance with the environmental and health regulations that regulate the matter, leaving the continual pollution that affects neighboring neighbors to the discretion of the defendants ”.

Due to the foregoing, the NGO insists that the hatchery should undergo a study to determine its impact by the Environmental Assessment Service, in accordance with the provisions of the General Environmental Basis Law, and thus establish the measures of corresponding mitigation.

Ecoterra: Cooperative format and has certification
From Ecoterra they explained to CNN Chile that they work under the structure of an associative or cooperative model that brings together small producers from the central area of the country. In the case of eggs, there are three suppliers.

They indicate that the complaint points to the particular case of a producer who has worked with them for six years and that increased from 15 to 4,500 chickens in that period. In any case, they maintain that the figure is far from the range of between 50,000 and 200,000 that traditional agrarian establishments usually have.

In addition, they assure that they comply with the necessary regulations to function, since their production is far from the 60 thousand animals that the law establishes to undergo an environmental impact study.

The company details that to integrate the cooperative, each producer must obtain the Certified Humane seal, from the international organization HFAC, which has standards developed by a Scientific Committee made up of more than 40 specialists, which include annual inspections in all farms and companies that They use certified ingredients in their food production.

“Ecoterra and its egg suppliers are inspected annually to verify the compliance of the farm management with respect to the certification requirements. Guaranteeing the well-being of a farm animal is a process of continuous improvement, in which producers learn through constant inspections how to adopt sustainable animal handling practices, "they indicate.

“It is normal to identify non-conformities during inspections, which are duly indicated and the respective corrective actions requested. We demand that these actions be effective to heal the identified problem and to allow it not to recur ”, they add.

Producer rules out animal abuse
The producer of the kennel in question, Marianela Belmar, told CNN Chile that she has all her certificates up to date, ruled out that the images broadcast in the video correspond to her farm and assured that hers is kept in full condition. different.

"I have never thought to earn a living with something that does not interest me, every day I get up wanting to do something that I like, especially I like contact with animals and I think I have a good arrival, I am very concerned that they are good, they feel good. So it is not something that I do to earn a living, of course it also entails it, but it is not only that and all the people who know me know how I care that my animals are well, "she said.

Regarding the complaints from his neighbors, he affirmed that “when I made the last establishment, they talked to me that the cackling of the chickens bothered them. the hens there is a peak where they make more noise, which is before feeding them ”.

“Before, I gave them food only once, at 11:00 in the morning, and now, at 07:30 I give them the first food and I do it as quickly as possible. There are 50 feeders; When you have already stocked 20 feeders, the decibels drop, much less than 50. All those things that seem small, I have made an effort to reduce the noises ", she emphasized.