Animal Equality have released footage which reveals scenes of severe animal suffering on a Dorset farm supplying ‘Big & Fresh’ eggs stocked by major UK retailers. Hidden camera footage reveals the caged hens were only checked-on once in four days by farm staff, a clear violation of welfare laws.

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Image courtesy Animal Equality

Animal Equality investigators visited Walston Poultry Farm (East Down site), near Blandford Forum in Dorset, four times between January and March 2018 and found:

·      80,000 hens in each giant shed, all locked in ‘colony cages’ stacked seven tiers high

·      Many birds suffering from severe feather loss - some nearly bald - with red, raw skin

·      Dead birds left in cages with the living, some being cannibalised

·      Birds with visible wounds from being pecked by cage mates

·      Dead birds left lying on walkways next to cages with the living

·      Tubs holding dozens of dead birds left in the sheds overnight

·      Failure to inspect all birds daily, in violation of welfare regulations

Around half a million birds are housed in eight windowless sheds on this site, laying around 140 million eggs a year for the UK's largest egg producer – Noble Foods – which operates multiple brands including Big & Fresh (eggs from caged hens) and the free-range Happy Egg Company. Noble Foods is the subject of an ongoing campaign by The Humane League UK because it claims to put the welfare of its ‘girls’ first for Happy Eggs while simultaneously forcing 4.3m hens to suffer and die in cages for its Big & Fresh brand.

The footage shows that Noble farm is in breach of the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007, the charity claim.

Dr Toni Shephard, the UK director of Animal Equality, said: “The pitiless practice of locking hens inside crowded cages inevitably leads to the frail, featherless birds and high mortality that we found on this farm.

“But the failure to even check on these poor, helpless hens once a day – as the law requires – shows complete disregard for them as living, feeling animals with fundamental needs.

“Consumers paying a premium for Happy Eggs will be horrified to learn they are indirectly supporting these cruel cages used on Noble Foods’ other farms. It is time for Noble to go cage-free across all of their brands.

“We wanted to show the conditions inside a typical caged hen farm.

“We know eggs in supermarkets will say from caged hens but for most consumers that doesn’t draw up the images to mind of what the practice looks like.

“They don’t picture the severity of the suffering.

“The images will be shocking to people, to see just how crowded those cages are and how severely the animals suffer from feather loss and the number of dead animals.

“For me, it’s the scale of the operation that is so shocking.

“There can be half a million birds on one farm but to drive past it you would have no idea, there’s no windows, no indication that these huge metal sheds contain living animals.

“Caging animals for their entire lives without fresh air, without daylight, never even standing on solid ground, that has got to be the most cruel form of farming that is currently practised in Britain.

“I’m very pleased the different agencies have committed to inspecting the farm, including Dorset trading standards and the British Lion code.

“They have both said they will be investigating the farm after getting our evidence, so we would certainly like to make sure the farm complies with at least the basic protection that farm animals have, to be inspected at least once a day.

“It’s going in the right direction, but too slowly for the animals that are suffering in these conditions.”

Noble Foods said it has launched an internal investigation and audit.

A spokesperson for Noble Foods said: “Noble Foods takes the welfare of poultry on farms supplying the company very seriously.

“The egg industry and its customers require companies to be stringently checked by regular independent auditing procedures including spot checks via unannounced visits.

“All sites supplying Noble Foods are fully compliant with UK Government and European regulations on welfare of poultry.

“Having seen the report produced by Animal Equality, relating to our contract producer ‘Walston Poultry’ with whom we have a long-standing relationship, we have immediately launched an internal investigation and audit of the site highlighted.

“Separately, the farm will be visited, without notice, by the British Egg Industry Council responsible for the Lion Code of Practice, the officially approved scheme requiring egg producers to maintain the highest possible welfare standards and environmental controls.

“Our investigation into this matter is underway and Noble Foods remains committed and vigilant in demanding the highest standards from all its suppliers.”

Source Animal Equality/Noble Foods