Chickens don’t deserve this kind of cruelty
The article in last week’s Mail on Sunday about how our supermarket chicken has a pitiful life of just 35 days made me very sad. It worries me how those who eat chicken are not aware of their awful existence. If you like the taste of chicken but don’t like the suffering, there are so many alternatives available now. These super-tasty foods are still high in protein and are cruelty-free.
Anna Hammett, Little Neston, Cheshire
Next year I hope the High Court decides stringent rules should be applied and adhered to in the rearing of chickens. The same rules should apply to any supplier overseas before we accept their meat.
Tony Thompson, Banbury, Oxfordshire
As a meat-eater, I would be prepared to pay a little extra if it meant the animal had a better quality of life.
Anna Wilson, Lancaster
As a representative of British poultry farmers, I find articles such as Tom Rawstorne’s extremely disappointing. It failed to say the UK has some of the highest animal welfare standards in the world. More than 95 per cent of chicken produced in the UK is Red Tractor assured, which means farms are independently inspected to ensure, among other things, that the health and welfare of their flock is at the core of production and birds have access to enrichments such as scratching areas and bales to perch on. When people buy British chicken, they are purchasing a high-quality product from farmers who care.
James Mottershead, NFU poultry board chair
While I understand the reasons why animal welfare charity The Humane League UK wants to ban the brutal way fast-growing poultry are reared, won’t that just make chickens even more expensive to buy? I believe this system of farming provides a vital source of affordable protein.
C. Hamilton, Peterborough
My grandmother used to keep chickens as a smallholding in the 1970s and 1980s. Her chickens lived at least one year and had an outside enclosure during the day. Those chickens were fed on corn and tasted delicious.
Samuel Vasquez, Southampton
Several years ago, a neighbouring farmer put up four large barns for rearing poultry. Out of interest, I asked him if I could see inside. They were light and airy, with vents along the side. At the time, we kept free-range hens and obviously, ours had more freedom, but the captive chickens being fattened for food were also kept safe and well fed.
E. Snyder, Durham