Thousands Join PETA in Opposing Chicken Prison

For Immediate Release:

February 26, 2016

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

THOUSANDS JOIN PETA IN OPPOSING CHICKEN PRISON

More Than 4,000 Agree: Authorities Should Stand With Citizens and Call Off Potential Farm

York– A new chicken farm that would condemn 288,000 chickens at any one time to lives of misery could be built in Rufforth, just outside York – and in response, thousands of people are joining PETA in urging the City of York Council to reject the proposal now. In addition to causing cruelty to animals on a massive scale, a farm of this kind would likely have many negative effects on the local area, including noise from high-velocity roof fans, increased traffic from heavy goods vehicles driving through narrow village streets, and the generation of enormous quantities of environmental pollutants such as manure and toxic chemicals. Contamination of water supplies could also have a negative impact on wildlife.

“The citizens of York have spoken, and the City of York Council should heed their concerns for the environment, the health of their community and animal welfare”, says PETA Associate Director Elisa Allen. “PETA is joining them in calling for this plan to be scrapped, sparing hundreds of thousands of birds a lifetime of suffering.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – has documented that chickens used for food are fed a steady diet of antibiotics and bred to grow so large that their legs often break under their own weight. At the slaughterhouse, they are often shackled upside down and have their throats slit, while others are scalded – sometimes alive – in defeathering tanks.

To sign our open letter click here. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk

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