Chickens kept in cramped cages can suffocate and or suffer broken bones

Thousands of chickens, pigs and sheep are suffering as they are taken to slaughterhouses because of breaches of animal welfare rules, a report claims.

The number of detected violations en route to abattoirs in England and Wales has tripled in two years, from 1,273 in 2015-16 to 3,832 in 2017-18, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said. Most relate to chickens suffocating in cramped crates or having bones broken or dislocated after being caught roughly.

Research has shown that more than a million of the 950 million chickens reared each year for meat die on the way to slaughterhouses.

Welfare breaches on farms rose by 41 per cent last year to 1,829 while abattoir violations fell by 19 per cent to 337, partly due to many