August 14, 2009

South Africa's Boskop Layer Chicks, one of the larger breeder farms in the country, is under investigation for animal cruelty.

Boskop breeds hens for the layer market. The farm reportedly disposes up to 70,000 day-old rooster chicks every week in a cruel manner, according to Beeld newspaper on Wednesday (Aug 12).

Kobus van Zyl, a former employee, claimed that the rooster chicks were left to die in a field and in an empty cement dam on the farm. Some of the chicks take up to five days to die, some are smothered under the weight of the others, while most die of exposure and from hunger or thirst.

Reports said those practices have been going on for the past 70 years, since the farm begun operations.

Van Zyl made video recordings of the 'culling' over a period of time, and gave the footage to the local TV programme Carte Blanche, who then informed the national council of animal welfare societies NSPCA about the alleged cruelty.

The NSPCA obtained a court warrant to gain access to the farm and found at least 10 trays containing about 30,000 rooster chicks. Some were half-smothered, while others had not even completely hatched yet.

The NSPCA said when they approached farm owner Jan Serfontein, the former head of the provincial department for agriculture, he was surprised that the organisation was shocked by the situation.

Van Zyl said he had decided to expose the truth, because the 'rubbish' which has built up on the farm for nearly 70 years has caused serious pollution of the Mooi River.

Kevin Lovell, chief official of SA Poultry, the body which represents the poultry industry, said they are aware of the case and are currently investigating the matter.

Major chain stores Woolsworth and Pick 'n Pay have broken ties with Boskop over the scandal. The two stores announced they would no longer sell any eggs from the farm, and Pick 'n Pay is now demanding written undertakings from its egg suppliers that their hens had been treated ethically.