Thousands of chickens die in heatwave at farm supplying major UK supermarkets: ‘There was nothing we could do’.
A red Tractor endorsed farm, Moy Park, Northern Ireland were left helpless as thousands of chickens died last week in the Heatwave that swept through the United Kingdom.
As the UK sweltered in record temperatures of more than 38C on Thursday, swathes of birds at an intensive farm in Lincolnshire, which is one of the major suppliers of supermarkets including Tesco and Sainsbury’s. succumbed to the intense heat inside sheds.
Workers at Moy Park farm in Newton on Trent told The Lincolnite: “We tried to do everything but there was nothing more we could do.
The freak weather has done this to them. Please don’t turn this into anything bad.
“It has been really tough carting these animals out of the farm over the past couple of days. Animal activists don’t think that we care about them, but we really do.”
However critics have hit out at the farm for letting those fowls die the way they did
Northern Ireland-based Moy Park, which says it is one of the UK’s top 15 food companies, supplies supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado.
Moy Park farms are endorsed by the Red Tractor scheme, which says its members provide food that is “farmed with care” and “responsibly produced”.
Philip Lymbery, chief executive of Compassion in World Farming, tweeted: “This is beyond words. They must have suffered terribly. Intensive farming of sentient animals has to stop.”
Another critic tweeted: “No excuse. Technology exists to cool buildings like this to keep the inside at a comfortable temperature.
Reacting however reacting to the criticisms, a spokesperson for Red Tractor said: “Animal welfare is our top priority and we require all certified poultry farms to do all they can to protect their birds.
Record temperatures last week posed significant challenges for livestock, pets and humans alike.
