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A slaughterhouse firm near Sleaford has been told to pay £118,520 after breaching animal welfare regulations.

More than 500 chickens died inside a truck after being left in the heat for around three hours once they had arrived at Moy Park Limited in Anwick in June 2016.

Eighty birds were crushed in their cages several months later in November after an error with an automated stacking system saw two modules containing the chickens fall over.

Another 315 birds more were accidentally sprayed with pressurised water jets and disinfectant instead of being humanly slaughtered in December of 2016.

The business pleaded guilty to four counts of failing to comply with EU Welfare of Animals at Time of Killing provision when the firm appeared at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Monday, July 3.

Howard Shaw, prosecuting for the CPS on behalf of Defra, said outside of court: “It is likely the birds were left too long and over-heated, according to the official veterinarian.

“They suffered avoidable pain and suffering.”

The fourth charge of failing to comply with EU regulations related to the original offence in June, as the firm failed to immediately notify the official veterinarian or present 10 dead on arrival birds for post-mortem.

QC David Travers, mitigating for Moy Park Limited, said: “It is of course relevant that these were not wilful wrongdoings.

He added: “We want to say that the level of suffering was brief.”

Mr Travers said at the conclusion of case, the company has high standards that it aims to meet, has cooperated with the legal system and endeavours to change systems as a result.

A Moy Park spokesperson said: “We consider it our moral duty to care responsibly for our birds and these incidents, which were a result of a mechanical malfunction and a breakdown in procedures, are not acceptable to us.

“Each incident was thoroughly investigated and appropriate measures have been taken and are constantly monitored, including mechanical hardware and software improvements.

"As an additional response we have also introduced new procedures and training for employees. The automated systems we have invested in are widely recognised as delivering significantly higher animal welfare benefits than standard manual systems.

“We sincerely believe that the new measures we have in place today will help us to achieve our aim of providing the optimum welfare conditions for our birds at every stage in their life and development.”

Animal welfare protestors demonstrated outside the court and one of them, Stephen Kingston, who is part of an animal rights group, said the laws needed to change in order to stop such incidents happening in the future.

The 27-year-old from Tattershall said: “It is not good enough – we knew they were going to come here and be fined.

“I think they should have gone further.

“I think the whole system of thousands of these birds being crammed into trucks is terrible.

He added: “We think conditions are not good enough and we are against animals being slaughtered full-stop.”

Magistrates said the company did not ‘comply with its own operating standards’ when it told the firm to pay up £118,520.

Moy Park Limited was ordered to pay £33,500 for the offences involving the death of the birds and was also told to pay £16,750 for failing to supply the birds for post-mortem following their death.