Thousands Join PETA in Opposing Great Palgrave Farm Bird Prison Expansion

Sporle, Norfolk – A planning proposal has been submitted to Breckland Council to expand Great Palgrave Farm, aturkey breeding facility, into an egg mega farm that, if granted, would condemn more than 38,000 gentle birds at a time to a life of misery – more than 14 times the amount who are currently confined there. In response, PETA sent a petition signed by more than 23,000local residents and other concerned members of the public, urging the council to reject the plan.

In the petition, PETA points out that in addition to causing cruelty to animals on a massive scale, the expansion would have many negative effects on the local area, including generating enormous quantities of manure and environmental pollutants, such as ammonia.

“Compassionate people are rightly concerned about the expansion of this bird hellhole, and Breckland Council must do right by animals, the environment, and the community by rejecting this disastrous plan,” says PETA Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen. “PETA urges everyone to spare birds from a lifetime of misery and a terrifying death by leaving animals off their plates.”

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – notes that chickens are just like us; social and sensitive individuals who love their families and value their lives. When raised for their flesh on factory farms, they are fed antibiotics, perpetuating antimicrobial resistance, and bred to grow so large so quickly that their legs often collapse under their own bodyweight. At abattoirs, they’re shackled upside down, their throats are slit, and they’re scalded in defeathering tanks – sometimes while still conscious.

The group further notes that cramming stressed animals together on farms creates not only a living hell for animals, but also a breeding ground for infectious diseases. Confining animals on faeces-ridden farms, transporting them in filthy lorries, and slaughtering them on killing floors soaked with blood, urine, and other bodily fluids can cause deadly pathogens to emerge that can spread from animals to humans.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat” – points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and thirst, a chicken is a dog is a boy.  For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.

Contact:

Lucy Watson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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