A&L Poultry Sued After 50,000 Hens Starve To Death
Three non-profit animal sanctuaries are seeking justice after 50,000 hens starved to death at a Turlock, California egg production facility. Animal Place, Farm Sanctuary, and Harvest Home Animal Sanctuary have filed a complaint in the Stanislaus County Superior Court against A&L Poultry.
The lawsuit accuses A&L Poultry of “shocking and illegal” animal cruelty. Rescue workers were able to save several birds but ultimately close to 50,000 hens perished due to poor conditions. The Animal Legal Defense Fund filed its lawsuit this morning with the hopes of putting the financial burden of dealing with the situation on the shoulders of A&L Poultry.
ALDF executive director Stephen Wells writes:
“The lawsuit the Animal Legal Defense Fund is filing on behalf of the plaintiffs who rescued the thousands of hens left to die seeks to place the expense of dealing with the tragic aftermath of this act of cruelty on the owners of A&L Poultry, who blatantly violated California law and never looked back.”
Bruce Friedrich, Farm Sanctuary’s senior director for strategic initiatives, added:
“We can’t begin to imagine what these poor animals suffered as a result of the defendants’ reckless disregard for their welfare. No remedy is severe enough, but at the very least they should be held fully accountable by the courts.”
The incident, which occurred in February, was apparently due to a shipping mistake. A&L issued a formal apology for the death of the hens, saying that they tried to arrange deliver of the chickens “to a third party in order to avoid the usual business practice of euthanizing the chickens.”
