Cage cruelty before the kill

By Renu Warnasuriya and Lakmali Jayasinghe

Trapped in a wire-mesh world, there is no room to roost, stand or flap. Baking in the scorching sun for two or three days, they are piled on top of each other. This "transport cage" is just one of the miseries a chicken has to go through, on its journey to your plate. Stacks of such cages are a common sight along the roadsides. Stuffed against each other, the birds can barely move to reach the scanty bits of food thrown into the cages. In some cases, the birds even suffer broken bones and injured legs. "Giving them unnecessary space causes more injury and pain because they are jolted about. Yet, overcrowding is bad in the case of all animals," concedes All Island Poultry Association President Dr. D. Wanasinghe. His Association together with the Ministry of Livestock and Agriculture has issued a circular under the Cruelty to Animals Act, defining the minimum space allowed per animal during transport and police can take action against this cruel practice. Apart from being transported in these wire prisons, broilers and egg-layers that comprise the poultry industry of the country have two different fates. Broilers form 70% of the industry and are processed as meat while the other 30%, are egg-layers. A broiler is grown for 38 to 42 days before it is "dressed for the market" and halal and non-halal are the two slaughtering practices in use. Compared to layer chickens, broilers have a comfortable life. For some layers, battery cages, each one and a half feet high and eight feet wide, are home from the time they are just 14 to 16 weeks old. The cages are designed in such a manner that conveyor belts are built in to collect the eggs. Food and drink are passed through small gutters attached to the front of the cages. The birds have to reach out through the iron bars to eat and sometimes get their necks entangled in the bars. The cages can go up to six storeys and trays beneath each wired floor collect the droppings. Restriction of movement is one of the major problems with the cages. The space given to each bird is the size of an A-4 paper, just enough room to stand or roost. The wire mesh floor cuts into their flesh injuring their scrawny legs. Once the egg production period of a layer is over, it is slaughtered and sold as curry chicken. However the cages have many economic advantages. The egg production is high because of the feeding system, which allows each bird to get the right amount of food and water. These types of cages also prevent the birds pecking each other and the spread of diseases. According to Dr. Wanasinghe less than 1% of poultry farmers in Sri Lanka use these cages currently, but the trend is increasing and bigger farms are also getting them. "This is a very selfish way of farming as every animal should have the freedom to move till it is slaughtered," he said. Agreeing that some big layer farms are using battery cages, Nel Farms Director Shiraz Geevunjee said, "We use a cage which is larger than a battery cage."

Another owner of a large egg-producing farm who did not wish to be identified said they were using the "wire floor" system, where hens are allowed to roam freely on a wire floor. "This prevents the eggs from getting contaminated by the droppings," he said. The farm has imported two battery houses on a trial basis. Other Sri Lankan layer farms use the traditional method, the deep litter system, in which the birds are let loose in a restricted area. Each bird gets an area of 1.5 to 2 square feet. Chickens which cease to lay eggs early face severe repercussions in the form of "forced moulting". They are kept for four days in a pitch-black environment with no food or water which results in all their feathers dropping off. Gradually, they are given food, water and light to revitalize them to start laying eggs. Though this practice is rare, it happens in small farms. Living in these battery cages, hens peck at each other, causing severe injuries. Such wounds if they get infected can even lead to the death of some birds. They also peck at the eggs and as this leads to economic losses, farmers have come up with a solution - de-beaking or cutting off their beaksThis process, first resorted to in the 1940s, is practised all over the world on layer farms. Some farmers de-beak the birds on the first day after hatching to minimize the pain while others do it when the bird is between 14 to 20 weeks. Some birds are de-beaked twice in their lifetime. Two methods of de-beaking are used in Sri Lanka. Under the traditional method, a pair of sharp scissors or a heated blade is used to cut off either one-third or two-thirds of the beak from the point, after which the remainder of the beak is held against a hot iron to prevent bleeding and infection. This process of "singeing" is used mainly on small farms. "Sri Lanka does not have the infrastructure to check this process in small farms," says Dr.Wanasinghe. Larger farms use the de-beaking machine like the guillotine, which has a hole through which the beak is placed. Then a heated blade drops down making a clean cut. The Poultry Association has held seminars and workshops to train farmers on the use of this machine. "De-beaking is less painful than the pain they inflict on themselves. It is done for the welfare of the birds and is essential for layers," says Dr.Wanasinghe.

Veterinary surgeon Dr. Percy Goonatilake, a consultant at Ceylon Grain Elevators says, "The practice is common and essential but it is definitely painful." How much pain the chick endures depends on how the de-beaking is done. The beak does have a sensitive area, which should not be included in the section that is cut. An inexperienced person, however, may accidentally cut this part as well. Inexperienced de-beaking could lead to tumours being formed in the healed stump of the beak. "Chicks shriek even when they are touched. If done properly, de-beaking does not cause any pain, but careless handling can cause severe pain," says Dr. Senerath Karunaratne, the vet at the Ethul Kotte Animal Hospital. Animal husbandry does require certain practices that may seem barbaric. If they need to be carried out they must be done humanely and as painlessly as possible. As Mahatma Gandhi said, " The greatness and morality of a nation must be judged by the way it treats its animals". An eye for an egg

Chickens are de-beaked while prawns have their eyes cut off, all for the sake of eggs.

Black Tiger Shrimps are the most commonly used prawns for breeding among the 40 harvesters in Sri Lanka. Two types of this shrimp are caught by the fishermen and sold to harvesters - females with and without eggs. On prawn farms, these shrimps are kept in hatcheries in tanks where deep-sea conditions are created. The hormones that inhibit a female from maturing and producing eggs are located in the eyestalk and the eye. On the fourth or the fifth day, one of the eyes of those that are without eggs is removed with a pair of scissors or a sharp blade, while the prawns are in the water itself and antibiotics added to the water to prevent infection. This process is knows as "eye ablation" and four to five days after, the prawns mature. After the first delivery, even those which had eggs in the first place, face eye ablation. "On some farms, people simply crush the eye without bothering to cut it," said a harvester who did not wish to be identified. Eye ablation was discovered in Japan and is a common practice in prawn hatcheries, where trained people carry out the process. Another person stressed that if eye ablation is not done carefully, the prawn could die causing losses for the farmers.