Dying Birds Crammed Into Sheds on New Zealand KFC Supplier Farm

For two months, Auckland Animal Action spent more than five weeks investigating a chicken factory farm owned by Tegel—New Zealand’s largest chicken-farming company. At the time of the investigation, Tegel had New Zealand’s sole contract to supply chickens to KFC, and this particular farm was a known KFC supplier.

“Each time we entered the sheds,” the investigators write, “we were confronted once again with the horror that is the life of these broiler chickens.” Ammonia fumes from accumulated waste were so strong in the sheds that the activists had to wear masks to guard their eyes and lungs. The chickens had no such protection.

The investigators found countless chickens who had difficulty walking or could not walk at all because of their massive size at such a young age—they are literally still baby chicks when they are slaughtered at the age of about 6 or 7 weeks, with their upper bodies having grown about seven times as quickly as they would naturally.

Other birds suffered worse fates. Many had slowly dehydrated to death because they were too crippled to reach their drinking water. The live birds were forced to live among the corpses, and the conditions were so crowded that many birds were walking or sitting on the bodies of other chickens.

Five chickens were rescued from the farm, but three had to be euthanized because their injuries were so severe. Read the investigators’ full description of what they found.

Sadly, such misery is par for the course in the life of a chicken raised for KFC. PETA has been campaigning for years to get KFC to improve its treatment of chickens, but so far the company has done nothing to eliminate even the worst abuses that these animals suffer. Read PETA’s latest letter to KFC about this investigation.