Thousands of chickens were euthanized in South Africa after they starved to death and ate each other

Cape Town, South Africa (AP) – Animal welfare officials are facing a serious task of euthanasia, when a state-owned poultry company in South Africa exhausts money to feed them, they manually swallow more than 350,000 chickens on each other.

The National Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the NSPCA Social Committee said that it was impossible to determine how many other chickens had died because of the “massive homosexual commerce” that occurred in birds when its officers arrived at several neglected poultry farms.

It said NSPCA managed to save 500,000 chickens.

“It's a painful scene,” the NSPCA said in a statement. “The bone chickens squeeze together, eat chickens with each other, and the feeding line is exposed.”

The chickens are owned by Daybreak Foods, a major poultry supplier owned by South African asset management company Public Investment Company.

NSPCA officials were first alerted on April 30 at a farm. The organization has at least five other farms in northern South Africa, with multiple locations on each farm where birds starve to death.

Dawn food was denied permission to bring birds to the slaughterhouse because they were too small.

There was no immediate response to an email requesting comments from Dawn Foods later on Tuesday.

Company spokesman Nokwazi Ngcongo told Daily Maverick News media that birds have not been spread for a while due to economic challenges affecting feed delivery. She said efforts have been made to limit the suffering of animals as much as possible.

Nazareth Aspalsamy, manager of the NSPCA's farm animal protection unit, told the Associated Press that the mass phase-out began last Wednesday and was not completed until Monday. Appalsamy said about 75 animal protection officers were tasked with euthanizing chickens that could not be recovered one by one.

“The phase-out has caused huge losses to the staff and has been subject to such extreme measures,” he said.

The NSPCA said the chickens had not been fed for more than a week and promised to file a court case against Dawn Foods under the Animal Protection Act to waive its liability.

The South African government said it is negotiating with Dawn's food leadership about its financial difficulties.

AP Africa News: https://apnews.com/hub/africa