Animal rights group Animal Equality U.K. has circulated a video, claiming chickens raised by Moy Park and the greater U.K. poultry industry are suffering.
The video, which appears on the group’s website, is titled “High-Rise of Hell,” and text that accompanies the video states that the video was filmed at farms in Saltbox, Ladywath and Mount, all of which raise chickens for the Pilgrim’s Pride subsidiary, Moy Park.
While no footage of direct animal mistreatment is shown, the video includes images of chickens that are struggling to stand and several that died in a barn. The video also states that the birds shown are raised for a company that supplies Tesco, McDonald’s and Sainsbury’s, and contains a message that urges consumers to “choose meat-free.”
“As our appetite for chicken meat has grown, so has the size of Britain’s chicken farms. Images of distressed birds in giant double-decker sheds will be a shock to many consumers who buy British, Red Tractor-certified meat thinking they can trust its animal welfare standards. Yet the truth is, the unnatural conditions chickens are forced to endure in these vast sheds are utterly dismal,” the organization stated.
Animal Equality stated that its ‘investigators’ visited each of the three farms multiple times between February and April 2019.
A spokesperson for Moy Park, the second largest poultry company in the U.K., released the following statement to The Telegraph: “We have a zero-tolerance attitude toward anything that jeopardizes the health and welfare of our birds and we are fully investigating these allegations.
“We have robust processes in place to carefully monitor the welfare conditions for our birds and we have regular independent audits, taking corrective action with our farming partners if required.”
According to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, Moy Park is one of the U.K.’s top 15 food companies, and about 800 farmers contribute to the company’s integrated supply chain, which includes hatcheries, feed mills, production and processing facilities, and grandparent stock.
