Today we dropped by Boonstra transport, the company that sadly had an accident with one of their poultry trucks a few weeks ago. To watch the footage click HERE. Fortunately their driver has recovered. However, 60-70% of the poultry on board (6-week old broiler chickens) died. The main cause was suffocation, because when the truck kilted over on its side, the chickens all piled on top of each other in their crates. Boonstra heard the news of the accident and immediately sent a team of professional chicken catchers to the site. They were able to do this only because the accident took place close-by. Had it been further away, it would have not been possible to be at the scene so quickly. Nevertheless, because of the design of the containers and crates for poultry, it remained difficult for the workers to release all the chickens. We were told that these professionals, once they were able to access the birds in the crates, dislocated the necks of all birds that were seriously injured and in pain in order to put them out of their misery. The birds that were in an acceptable condition were reloaded and sent to a slaughterhouse 30 minutes away.
Eyes on Animals -
24.04.2012 Talk with Boonstra chicken transport about their recent accident
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Transport
All farmed animals are transported at least once in their lifetime. Journeys can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few weeks. Transport is known to be one of the most stressful experiences for animals. They are moved from a familiar territory to a new one and are held often under very crowded conditions. They get separated from each other and mixed with unfamiliar animals, which can lead to stress and fighting. Sometimes there is no water and feed available or the animals cannot reach it. Animals that wish to lie down during the journey are at risk of being trampled by the others. Sometimes conditions on board are very cold or very hot, leading to animals dying from hypothermia and suffocation. There are laws in place to prevent these types of problems, but there is very little official inspection during the journey to check if these laws are respected. Eyes on Animals regularly trails and checks livestock transport consignments to see if the welfare of the animals is respected during transit.
