Chicken caged, culled cruelly
Stalls violate law by slaughtering chicken in public, in front of other birds
Apart from being injected by multiple antibiotics to gain weight and the severe torture of being stuffed into battery cages for transport, chicken are put through unbearable trauma of watching other poultry slaughtered in front of their eyes.
Most chicken stalls cut their poultry in front of consumers and other birds, which is against the law. Mr Jayasimha N.G., managing director of Humane Society of India, said, “As per rules, chicken cannot be slaughtered in front of people and other birds. Even young children are subjected to seeing this violence.”
Explaining the law, he said the birds need to be stunned before slaughtering. “Now, all birds are made to watch other birds getting killed, causing immense panic in battery cages. The chicken are stuffed into cages overnight without food or water. They have to live in the mesh for more than 24 hours at times,” Mr Jayasimha said.
Despite animal lovers repeatedly complaining to the GHMC and SCB, the chicken stalls continue to operate, many even without a proper licence.
Mr Narendra Prasad from the People for Animals (PFA), said, “Most chicken stalls do not show their registration by. We cannot just have a chicken stall in every nook and corner of the city.”
He said that as per the Supreme Court, the blood should be treated as medical waste but is let out into drainage.”
He stated that the body fluids, feathers and organs of the birds were finding their way into the drainage and were contaminating groundwater.
“There is a clear nexus between the government and the poultry industry. Every state is mandatorily supposed to have a slaughterhouse monitoring committee but this rule is blatantly disregarded,” said Mr Jayasimha.
Animal lovers said they were not against anyone’s food choices, but the animals should not be subjected to extreme cruelty. Despite repeated requests by various organisations, CCTV-monitored slaughterhouses are yet to begin.
“Such a step will help ensure the health of consumers,” said Mr Narendra. With poor hygiene and cruelty meted out to chickens, there needs to be a stricter enforcement.