Page 11 - Hillside 2015 20th Anniversary Newsletter

2003 Giving water to the suffering and dying... being in the
presence of these helpless birds, always brings home
to me the grim reality of the plight of millions of
others in Britain’s heartless farming industry.

The Christmas Turkey...

In September 2003, we investigated conditions at a farm belonging to turkey producer (Above) Wendy with rescued turkeys Rosie and Paco
Cherryridge Poultry, who were also part of the RSPCA’s Freedom Food scheme. We (Below) Giving water to a desperately ill bird
had visited three years earlier to find appalling conditions and were shocked to find enduring the conditions at Cherryridge Poultry.
that things had deteriorated even more. Not only were many birds lingering around
for days with horrific head and body injuries from severe head pecking, in some units
the turkeys were also contending with a serious infestation of flies. We soon found
the cause of that - pits full of dead turkeys left to rot in a heaving sea of maggots!

I tried to alleviate some of the turkeys’ suffering by offering them water, but many
were already dying as their injuries had prevented them from getting to the food and
drinkers. Other birds were dragging themselves around on painful, swollen and often
deformed joints. Those who were not so badly affected still had to endure the dirty,
stinking conditions, unavoidably breathing in the stifling stench of ammonia.

At this point we did not know who to contact. DEFRA had simply denied there was a
problem when previous offending sites had been reported to them. Trading Standards
and the RSPCA had always had a similar attitude. In the case of the Cherryridge
turkeys, we contacted TESCO, whose shelves these turkeys were destined to fill,
asking if they would like to accompany us and see the true conditions under which
they were purchasing their produce. They declined...

Finally, in conjunction with the BBC’s ‘Food Police’, we submitted our evidence to
Trading Standards who then went on, again, to simply cover up the atrocities there.

Below, the appalling conditions we found at Cherryridge Poultry.