[Animals] Heatwave will cause more mass deaths at chicken factory farms, animal charities warn

[Amaterasu イタチ]

 

Charities are warning of “another fresh hell” for animals in the coming days, fearing millions could suffer and perish in the heatwave.

Experts are calling on the government to crack down on intensive chicken farms that last month let millions of birds be “cooked alive” in the record UK temperatures.

They also want ministers to suspend journeys of chickens and cattle while the extreme weather persists.

And at the same time, badger advocates warned the mammals would suffer cruel, prolonged deaths unless the cull was postponed.

Last month, whistleblowers revealed how little was done on factory farms to protect chickens from the intense heat in industrial sheds that reached up to 45C and left many suffering heat distress, flapping and panting as they died.
Animal-welfare organisations have told ministers that with temperatures set to reach up to 34C in the next 72 hours and heatwaves worsening in future years, the disaster will be repeated without urgent action.

They are calling for new laws on better ventilation, lower stocking densities – fewer birds crammed into the sheds – and the use of hardier slower-growing breeds that cope better with extreme heat to be made compulsory.

Graphic reports from whistleblowers include one who described seeing “an ocean of green, rotting mush” on a farm after last month’s mass disaster.
Legislation requires ventilation to be efficient enough to save chickens from overheating, but apparently is not always enforced.

The letter to environment secretary George Eustice, seen by The Independent, highlights how last year the Met Office warned of climate change causing heat stress in farmed animals.

Cordelia Britton, of the Humane League UK, said: "Another heatwave is coming and we risk another fresh hell for animals - if we don’t act now chickens will die again and again.

"It’s a national disgrace.

"We need the Better Chicken Commitment to be made the minimum legal standard, and for existing laws designed to protect animals from high temperatures to be enforced. The government must not shrug its shoulders and wait for the next catastrophe to happen.”

The Better Chicken Commitment (BCC) involves farming breeds of chickens that grow more slowly than most birds on UK factory farms, which are deliberately reared for rapid and unhealthy weight gain.

Welfare experts say fast growth increases body heat production, making the "Frankenchickens" susceptible to heat stress which in turn raises birds’ already heightened blood pressure.

This, together with high body temperatures, causes heart failure, hyperventilation, dizziness, diarrhoea and death.

 

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