Chicken breeding methods in Britain inflict a life of misery on millions of birds which is tolerated by the Government but breaks international law, the High Court was told yesterday. 

Animal welfare campaigners said the intensive rearing of 800 million broiler chickens, which allegedly leaves millions of birds unable to support their weight, was the "biggest scandal in farming". Broiler chickens are bred for their meat. A judge was told that the British chicken industry, worth £2.9bn a year, uses specially selected breeds that grow so fast that their legs, heart and lungs often fail to keep pace, causing suffering
and death. 

International farm animal welfare group, Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), claimed modern broilers were bred to reach their slaughter weight in 41 days, twice as fast as 30 years ago. Lawyers for the group said the methods were permitted by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), despite the fact that they breach European Union directives on animal welfare. 

Rabinder Singh QC, for CIWF, told Mr Justice Newman: "The evidence shows that while broilers' muscle - the meat for which they are to be killed - grows rapidly, the supporting structure of legs, heart and lungs fails to keep pace with rapid body growth, and can be damaged by the strain of supporting overgrown bodies. As a result, each year in Britain, a very large number of broilers suffer painful, sometimes crippling, leg disorders. Millions die every year from heart failure." 

In an unusual legal move, CIWF is seeking a judicial review to force the Government to outlaw current rearing practices and force breeders to introduce slower growing birds into the production cycle. 

Defra is contesting the case. A spokesman said: "The Government ... believes that the relevant EU animal welfare directive has been implemented correctly." 

Britain produces about 740,000 tons of chicken a year, and, across the EU, some four billion broilers are raised. After years of breeding research, flocks reared in vast sheds now reach the slaughter weight of 2kg within six weeks, making intensively-reared chicken the fastest produced of all meats. 

CIWF said scientific evidence showed up to 30 per cent of chickens suffered leg abnormalities which left them unable to walk or having to use their wings to support their weight. The overall mortality rate of 4.7 per cent meant about 40 million birds wee dying every year from causes such as heart and lung failure. 

CIWF told the court that the accelerated growth of broilers had led to a second category of bird, kept for breeding, being "starved" to ensure it lived long enough to reach sexual maturity. The breeding population, accounting for about seven million chickens in Britain, was fed a restricted diet of 25 to 50 per cent of that given to normal broilers to avoid excessive weight gain. As a result, the birds, which live for up to 70 weeks, were found by a European Commission study to be "chronically hungry, frustrated and stressed". 

Under a 1998 EU directive, all farm animals must be given enough food to ensure they are kept in good health. CIWF claims the restricted feeding regimes breach those rules and is calling for Defra to prosecute farmers using such diets. 

Peter Stevenson, CIWF's political and legal director, said the whole industry was built on unlawful practice. "It is the biggest scandal in farming, we have millions of birds which are suffering."  A judgment on the case is expected to be delivered by the end of November. 

© 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd 

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=458640

Methods used to rear 800 million chickens in the UK every year are illegal, the High Court has heard.

Compassion in World Farming is challenging Government policies which, it says, breach EU law by permitting the production of birds which are subjected to suffering.  CIWF says modern broiler chickens have been selectively bred to reach their slaughter weight in just 41 days, which is twice as fast as 30 years ago.

Legs, heart and lungs often fail to keep pace with the rapid body growth, so that legs buckle under the strain of supporting an over-developed body.  Birds used for breeding have to be starved so that they do not die or become too unhealthy before reaching maturity.

Rabinder Singh QC, representing CIWF, told Mr Justice Newman that broiler chickens are by far the most numerous of all farm animals and most are reared in factory farms.  He said there was increasing scientific evidence of severe health problems among these chickens which are selectively bred to grow rapidly.

He added that the broilers are slaughtered for meat before they reach maturity but those used for breeding have to have a restricted diet of between 25-50% of their normal diet so they reach adulthood.

At the centre of CIWF argument is the EU 1998 General Farm Animals Directive which includes clauses which bar keeping animals for farming purposes unless it can be done without detrimental effect on their health or welfare.

It also stipulates that animals must be given sufficient food to maintain them in good health and satisfy their nutritional needs.

[Sounds like CIWF is the UK's answer to PETA... Pete]

Chances are having McNuggets for dinner Wednesday night left some Gadsden Elementary students weepy. Two animal activists urged children to "kick the bucket" by handing out chicken trading cards to students as they left the May Street school Wednesday.

One activist dressed as a chicken and toted a sign reading: "Chickens are friends, not food."

"It's nice," said 8-year-old Andre Grant, gripping his new chicken card that warned about the ill health effects from eating buckets of bird parts.

But will the mini poultry protest inspire the second-grader to give up his beloved barbecue chicken? "No way," Grant said.

A member of PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, dressed in a chicken costume waves to students leaving Gadsden Elementary School as part of a publicity stunt. John Carrington/Savannah Morning News 
The event was not associated with the school, but instead was the only Savannah stop in a nationwide campaign by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

The campaign goal: Curb America's chicken diet.  Based on the increase in chicken consumption nationwide, the chicken activists have a lot of work ahead.

In 1980, Americans consumed 77 pounds of beef per capita and 51 pounds of chicken. But in 2001, Americans ate 66 pounds of beef per capita compared with 76 pounds of chicken, The Associated Press reported.

Today, some 7 percent of restaurant lunch and dinner orders contain a portion of chicken nuggets, strips or other processed chicken meat, AP reported.

The chicken cards given to children featured cartoon characters, like Tubby Tammy, to illustrate what PETA believes to be "unpleasant side-effects of eating chicken such as food poisoning and obesity."
 

The event was not associated with the school, but instead was the only Savannah stop in a nationwide campaign by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Special to the Savannah Morning News "Children have a natural empathy for animals," said Ravi Chand, PETA campaign coordinator. 

But there's little empathy between PETA activists and school officials.

Teachers and staff tried to direct the school's roughly 600 children away from the beckoning chicken and sometimes even plucked the cards out of their tiny hands. A campus police officer was on hand in case feathers started flying.  School officials could not stop the protest because the activists stood on the sidewalk, not school property.

Teachers didn't want to criticize the activists on the record, but implied it was unfair that PETA could force their beliefs on children, yet public school teachers are prevented from doing so.  Speaking as a parent, not a school official, Assistant Principal Sylathea Prescott Hutchins said many school parents will be upset to learn of the campaign.  "I would wonder why someone I didn't know was allowed to hand my child, a minor, literature," she said.

A few parents agreed that PETA's technique to target children was a bit "chicken."  Patricia Norris, mother of a third-grader, said some parents find chicken to be an affordable dinner for their children.

James McBride wasn't worried about his grandchild, a first grader, turning her nose up at nuggets, but said he didn't like PETA's tactics.  "It's not fair to mess with kids," McBride said. "What kind of a decision is a kid going to make?"