Isabella is one of several thousand “laying” hens we encounter on a transport in Italy. Like all the others, she has had to lay eggs non-stop throughout her short life as a hen. Their bodies clearly show the strain. Many of them have lost feathers in several areas and are emaciated from the extreme production demands imposed on them day after day, producing eggs for human consumption. Over time, their bones have become brittle and fragile. Yet none of this matters in today’s livestock industry. Once their laying performance declines, they are replaced—usually after 16 to 18 months. Their destination: the slaughterhouse.
We therefore follow Isabella and the other so-called “spent” laying hens to a slaughterhouse in the Veneto region of Italy. Their exhausted bodies are still used to extract the last possible profit before they end up, for example, as soup hens in supermarket refrigerated shelves. Isabella and the other hens are transported precisely during the hottest time of the day, at temperatures exceeding 30°C. The sun beats down on the old metal containers in which the hens are crammed. Isabella and the others are not even able to stand upright. During the journey, some hens move anxiously inside the cages, repeatedly hitting their heads and backs against the cage roof. Isabella and several other hens stretch their heads out through the side openings of the containers—perhaps seeking fresh air because of the heat; perhaps trying to escape; perhaps both.
On highways in this region, dead hens falling from trucks are seen repeatedly. Yet this seems to go unnoticed, as the economic value of “spent” laying hens is so low. They are not regarded as individuals with their own needs, distress, and desires.
Unfortunately, we are not given the opportunity to inspect the transport more closely or to see Isabella and the others again. The truck drives directly into the slaughterhouse premises without stopping. How many of the animals suffered injuries during loading, whether birds had wings or heads trapped inside the containers, and how many did not survive the journey, we do not know. At least they are unloaded in the heat immediately—forklifts place the containers under a canopy so the hens are in the shade. But this is only a very small consolation given all the suffering Isabella and the others endure in their far too short lives. Workers roughly and without any apparent compassion pull the hens out of the containers, sometimes grabbing one hen, sometimes two, hanging them upside down into the holding devices in a sudden motion, as if they were inanimate objects. The hens flail their wings desperately to free themselves—but in vain. Hung upside down, they are carried along the conveyor belt into the slaughterhouse.
We have already informed the relevant Italian authorities and demanded that measures be taken to prevent animal transports during the hottest hours of the day. This also applies to so-called short-distance transports, which can last eight to twelve hours within Italy. This is particularly important for hens, which suffer severely from heat stress inside the cages.
