Chickens raised for Morrisons have been filmed in “extreme” pain caused by breeding designed to make them unnaturally large.
The chicks, whose meat is sold as “welfare-assured” on the supermarket’s “butcher on Market Street” range, were seen with deformed legs. This means some “frantically flapped their wings before collapsing in pain,” according to investigators for the animal rights group Open Cages, whose work was first reported in the Mirror.
The average broiler chicken — bred for meat, not eggs — has at least doubled in weight since the 1950s to meet spiralling human demand. This makes it harder for them to support their own weight and leads to painful deformities and conditions such as heart disease. Similar treatment was reported by The Times in
