During November and December of 2003, Auckland Animal Action conducted an investigation into a Tegel broiler chicken farm on Rimmers Road, Helensville, north of Auckland, New Zealand. During this time, Tegel were the official suppliers to KFC in New Zealand (in July 2004 Tegel lost this contract to Inghams, yet are still currently suppling KFC during the transition period). Following is the Auckland Animal Action rescue report: We spent over five weeks documenting the growth of these chickens - from their first week until depopulation. Each time we entered the sheds, we were confronted once again with the horror that is the life of these broiler chickens. The sea of thousands of birds jostling roughly against each other, struggling for space in the crammed conditions and the incessant blur of noise, was always newly overwhelming to us. We had to cover our faces and breathe through scarves because of the acidic, burning ammonia fumes. The heat in the sheds was almost overwhelming at times. How these sickly baby birds managed to exist in these conditions for weeks on end with no reprieve was almost unfathomable to us. Throughout this investigation, we saw many, many chickens that struggled to walk or that could not even stand - their soft baby bones folding under the weight of their huge, adult sized bodies. We saw chickens with one or both of their legs splayed out completely under the weight of their bodies. Chickens in this condition had no hope at all of reaching the food and water trays which rise up automatically over the weeks - they would slowly die of dehydration and starvation. We saw countless dead and well-decomposed chickens. Live chickens would walk over them, standing, and even sitting, on the corpses as the lack of space made it impossible for the living to move away from the dead. We rescued five chickens from this farm during this investigation. Three of which had to be put to sleep due to leg problems of such a severe nature that they were constantly suffering and in pain.
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