August 20, 2009
Boskop Layer Chicks owner denies poultry abuse accusations
The owner of South Africa's Boskop Layer Chicks, Jan Serfontein, has denied that the farm kills 70,000 rooster chicks every week by throwing them in an empty dam and leaving them to perish.
The story is made up by a disgruntled employee, said George Gibbens, Serfontein's lawyer.
The farm gassed the chicks to death, and the carcasses were disposed to lion farmers as food for the lions, Gibbens said.
According to Gibbens, the National Society for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty (NSPCA) took footage of the chicks in an empty dam while their officials knew the chicks would be fed into a high-speed grinder the next day. Macerating is a legal culling method.
Gibbens said the NSPCA was invited to witness the maceration, but they arrived at the farm a day before it was scheduled to take place.
But NSPCA's manager of the farm animal unit, Del Jones, said the macerator was only brought in after their visit.
A former employee brought the case to attention, saying that the cruelty had been going on for the past 70 years since the farm's existence. He made video recordings of the dying rooster chicks over a period of time and passed it to a local current affairs TV programme, Carte Blanche.
Regarding the programme, Gibbens said the contents were false.
Unsubstantiated claims were broadcast in a reckless way and legal action will follow, Gibbens warned.
