Jenny came into our care today exhibiting extreme pain and lethargy.
What we found was awful. Her insides had rotted so much from infection in the canal where eggs are produced and laid that she was breathing through her rectum, the entire canal swollen, sore and pus-laden.
We immediately knew that this lady had been suffering a living hell as she tried to survive with her body rotting from the inside out. While her condition was devastating we weren’t hugely surprised, layer hens more than any other animal often suffer for weeks in unbelievable agony because of their breeding as egg-layers, which tears their tiny bodies apart daily throughout their short lives.
Jenny came from a commercial egg farm, but we have seen similar suffering in birds from backyard flocks too.
Within minutes of her arrival we had Jenny on soothing drugs and muscle relaxers, so that her last moments would be pain-free and peaceful. She drifted off in soft caring hands as her suffering as a cog in the animal agriculture machine was over.
We have all of the knowledge and technology that we need to feed us without subjecting animals like Jenny to a life worse than a living hell. Her hell is over, but for so many others it’s only just begun.
Sleep well Jenny. We promise your life will be important as we tell your story far and wide.
