Battery Hen Liberated From Mainland Poultry During Demonstration

Several Waikouaiti factory farmers were woken up at dawn by noisy protests today. Animal rights activists visited the home of Jeff Winmill (farm manager for Mainland Poultry) at 7.30am with drums, whistles and megaphones. At the same time, another group of protesters converged on the home of a second Mainland Poultry manager. This house is situated at Mainland Poultry’s smaller site in Inverary Street, and is surrounded by battery sheds.

At this farm, several Mainland staff, including Jeff Winmill, arrived and threatened several protesters and assaulted one.

Several protesters gained access to the battery hen sheds and one hen was liberated.

Animal Watch Aotearoa spokesperson Clare Havell said, “Activists found extremely de-feathered hens, 4 to a cage. It was even more disgusting than we thought it would be. The current animal welfare laws are so weak they are totally meaningless. For the sake of the hens, battery farming must be abolished.”

“The majority of the public wants battery cages to be outlawed. We believe we have a moral right to break the law and rescue animals until the government finally catches up with public opinion and bans animal cruelty.”

After the demonstration was finished the police harassed protesters all the way back to Dunedin. One protester was arrested and charged with unlawfully being in a building. The protester had not been inside the sheds. Police were so desperate for more arrests they started breath-testing drivers of cars connected with protesters at 8 o’clock in the morning.

Protests continue tomorrow, meeting at the Octagon at 10.30am before moving on to the protest destination.

Photos and video footage of the rescued hen will be available this afternoon.

Ends

© Scoop Media