These images document the entire chicken breeding cycle and were filmed by an undercover activist of Essere Animali, hired for a month by a large company in Piedmont that owns several farms and supplies AIA, the main Italian poultry producer.
Chickens have a short life that is full of suffering. Selected to ensure rapid fattening and fed on high-protein feed, their breast weight is such that when sent to the slaughterhouse at only six weeks of age they have difficulty walking, as well as heart and respiratory problems. They are raised in sheds that can hold up to 30,000 chickens, 20 per square metre, with no possibility of outdoor access.
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This is cruel to the animals and constitutes a risk to public health. In the opinion of the scientific community, these farms facilitate the spread of viruses that are dangerous to humans. In addition, as documented in our investigation, the widespread use of antibiotics – administered to all chickens for preventive purposes, with the aim of keeping as many animals alive as possible – is one of the leading causes of antibiotic resistance.
Workers also commit violent and abusive acts towards the chickens. Intensive livestock farms resemble dark zones in which even minimal animal protection laws are not respected. Newborn chicks are unloaded with violence to the point of injuring or killing them, sick animals are thrown among corpses while still alive or slaughtered after hours of agony and chickens are mowed down by the rotavator that turns the litter.
Although we have filed a complaint against those responsible, the problem does not end here. Over 500 million chickens are slaughtered in Italy every year. It is the most commonly consumed meat, often chosen as a substitute for red meat, but comes from intensive systems that can pose a risk to our society and cause serious suffering to animals.
On their first day of life, chicks from the hatchery arrive at the farm and are violently thrown to the ground from a height of more than one metre. The pace of work is frantic; 90,000 chicks can even be unloaded in a single day. Due to the impact with the ground, some die or are injured and are forced to live with pain and deformities. The owner of the farm also participates in these operations.
Sick animals are not treated, they die on the farm, are discarded with corpses while still alive or slaughtered after hours of suffering. A worker will come to mow down a sick chicken that is unable to move. When the chickens are transported to the slaughterhouse, they are also grouped together by being kicked towards the conveyor belts.
Deformed by the weight of their breast, some chickens are no longer able to stand and collapse to the ground. Every day, hundreds of chickens fail to survive the consequences of genetic selection and the intensive farming conditions. Dermatitis and feather loss are caused by continuous contact with litter that is drenched with ammonia from the droppings of
One of our undercover investigators documented one of the grey areas of chicken production, the loading of animals for transport to the slaughterhouse. Thrown, kicked and crammed into cages, 48,000 chickens already suffering from the farming conditions are brutally transported to the slaughterhouse.
Working undercover in a hatchery where the chicks raised for one of the largest Italian companies are born, our investigator filmed the first day of their life. Separated from their mother even before birth, they are handled as if they were objects, thrown and ground up alive if sick or injured.
Why on earth is chicken meat so cheap? Because the true price is paid by the chickens, raised in intensive systems that cause serious suffering. This investigation documents the conditions on various Italian farms supplying the main poultry brands, the overcrowding of sheds and violent behaviour by workers.
Thanks to our team of investigators, millions of people are discovering the reality of abuse and cruelty in farms and slaughterhouses. Our work saves animals and needs your support.