NewStats: 3,259,262 , 8,169,654 topics. Date: Saturday, 24 May 2025 at 02:37 PM 444u6z

Thousands of chickens euthanized in South Africa after they were left starving and eating each other

Animal welfare officers faced the grisly task of euthanizing more than 350,000 chickens by hand after they were left starving and cannibalizing each other when a South African state-owned poultry company ran out of money to feed them, officials said Tuesday.

The National Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or NSPCA, said it wasn't able to say for certain how many other chickens had already died by the time its officers reached several neglected poultry farming sites because of the “mass cannibalism” that took place among the birds.


The NSPCA managed to save more than 500,000 chickens, it said.

“It was a harrowing scene,” the NSPCA said in a statement. “Skeletal chickens huddled together, chickens eating one another, feeding lines stripped bare.”

The chickens were owned by Daybreak Foods, a major poultry supplier owned by South Africa's state asset management company Public Investment Corp.

NSPCA officers were first alerted to a crisis at one farm on April 30. The organization uncovered at least five other farms in northern South Africa with multiple sites on each farm where birds had been left to starve, it said.

Daybreak Foods was denied permission to take the birds to a slaughterhouse because they were too small.

There was no immediate response to an email message seeking comment from Daybreak Foods late Tuesday.

Company spokesperson Nokwazi Ngcongo told the Daily Maverick news outlet that the birds went unfed for a period of time due to financial challenges affecting feed delivery. She said efforts had been made to limit animal suffering as much as possible.

Nazareth Appalsamy, the manager of the NSPCA's farm animal protection unit, told The Associated Press that the mass culling began last Wednesday and was only completed on Monday. Around 75 animal protection officers were tasked with euthanizing the chickens that weren't able to recover one by one, Appalsamy said.

"Culling took a real toll on the staff, being exposed to such extreme measures," he said.

The NSPCA said the chickens hadn't been fed for more than a week and pledged to file a court case against Daybreak Foods under animal protection laws for abandoning its responsibilities.

The South African government said it is in talks with Daybreak Foods leadership over its financial troubles.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thousands-chickens-euthanized-south-africa-203038292.html

In Cooks island, people catch chickens just like we catch normal birds here. They belong to no one

South Africa could have tried this, let the chickens roam free

When chickens are scarce in Nigeria.

Debeaking would've prevented them from killing themselves to some large extent.

Why not just free them to the masses

And watch how human will still cannibalised them in a curry/tyme way .

Wrong decision for a country were 27% of the population goes to bed hungry.

Last time naso I hear say Canada throwway thousands liters of milk. Cause dairy 🐄 farmers have meeet up with the national quota.

Why not just Dash poor countries like Somalia, India, Bulgaria, Oman, Guatemala, Cape Verde, Sudan, Libya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso etc this milk and chickens.

Why??

"Euthanized"

No be only me, even you see am too no just pretend

Chicken wey be like ekuke, they'd have fend for themselves if they let them roam free.

Nawa ooo, where hunger dey finish people for naija. Na it then one waste free meat like that

Hunger is everywhere in this present time.

COMRADES are speechless, what kind of noncense is this? Don't they have poor or orphanages in South Africa? Or what is the meaning of this show off?

AmazingELixir:
Thousands of chickens euthanized in South Africa after they were left starving and eating each other


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thousands-chickens-euthanized-south-africa-203038292.html

what a financial waste and loss

It's my pleasure

That is a zombified attitude.

lazkizz:
Why not just free them to the masses

And watch how human will still cannibalised them in a curry/tyme way .

Wrong decision for a country were 27% of the population goes to bed hungry.

Last time naso I hear say Canada throwway thousands liters of milk. Cause dairy 🐄 farmers have meeet up with the national quota.

Why not just Dash poor countries like Somalia, Cape Verde, Sudan, Rwanda etc this milk and chickens

Why

add Nigeria to the list of poor countries

They've embezzled the money meant for feed abi? How do you leave chickens unfed for a week?

OK ,



so the government could not save such a big organization ,



so what is in the body of the chicken that people will buy?




Princess Faith Chukwu

AcrossUNIVERSE:
In Cooks island, people catch chickens just like we catch normal birds here. They belong to no one

South Africa could have tried this, let the chickens roam free

Could that be the reason why the place is called Cook Islands?

lazkizz:
Why not just free them to the masses

And watch how human will still cannibalised them in a curry/tyme way .

Wrong decision for a country were 27% of the population goes to bed hungry.

Last time naso I hear say Canada throwway thousands liters of milk. Cause dairy 🐄 farmers have meeet up with the national quota.

Why not just Dash poor countries like Somalia, India, Bulgaria, Oman, Guatemala, Cape Verde, Sudan, Libya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso etc this milk and chickens.

Why??

Plus Nigeria

Ah big loss

Mariangeles:
When chickens are scarce in Nigeria.

Debeaking would've prevented them from killing themselves to some large extent.

Check the meaning of euthanized on Google. The chickens didnt kill themselves.

henrycloud:



Check the meaning of euthanized on Google. The chickens didn't kill themselves.

They had to do that after they were left starving and cannibalizing each other.

The Bible says People perish for lack of knowledge

You could have fed them water Hyacinth or fermented Weeds

Why didn't they just sell the chickens cheaply to restraurants and fast food businesses before they ran out of money? 🤷🏾‍♂️

henrycloud:



Check the meaning of euthanized on Google. The chickens didnt kill themselves.

She meant that since they had become cannibalistic, instead of euthanizing them which is an economic waste, just debeak them to prevent further cannibalism and keep them alive.

I think the decision to cull them is more of a moral, sensibility decision than anything else.

Can someone please check the meaning of the word "euthanized" particularly as it pertains to chickens?

Did some light reading

Euthanasia is done specifically to relieve suffering—for example, if the chicken is sick, injured, or dying. It’s usually considered a humane act done for the animal's welfare, not for human benefit.

If you kill a healthy chicken with a knife to eat it, that’s called slaughter—not euthanasia.

I honestly don't think the term 'euthanasia' should apply to animals reared for human consumption. How certain are we that a chicken about to be killed for a meal is "healthy". Health is not merely the absence of disease, but the presence of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and this to some extent applies to animals as well.

A chicken who has been caged in unsatisfactory conditions is not in any form mentally stable and thus is not technically healthy. Are we then euthanizing our chickens in Nigeria, and honoring their existence and worth by consuming them?

Dogalmighty17:
They've embezzled the money meant for feed abi? How do you leave chickens unfed for a week?

That's why the oyinbo that black South African hold so high are running away. African man has taken over and is running the country into the ground

lazkizz:
Why not just free them to the masses

And watch how human will still cannibalised them in a curry/tyme way .

Wrong decision for a country were 27% of the population goes to bed hungry.

Last time naso I hear say Canada throwway thousands liters of milk. Cause dairy 🐄 farmers have meeet up with the national quota.

Why not just Dash poor countries like Somalia, India, Bulgaria, Oman, Guatemala, Cape Verde, Sudan, Libya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso etc this milk and chickens.

Why??

Nigeria

Ok

lazkizz:
Why not just free them to the masses

And watch how human will still cannibalised them in a curry/tyme way .

Wrong decision for a country were 27% of the population goes to bed hungry.

Last time naso I hear say Canada throwway thousands liters of milk. Cause dairy 🐄 farmers have meeet up with the national quota.

Why not just Dash poor countries like Somalia, India, Bulgaria, Oman, Guatemala, Cape Verde, Sudan, Libya, Rwanda, Burkina Faso etc this milk and chickens.

Why??

Bulgaria and Oman poor countries?? Bruu

Africa will always be Africa whether South, West East, North, or Central. Bunch of kukus du kakkis. In law maker Obaihagbon's English.

free2ryhme:


what a financial waste and loss

The compNyy ran of feed and would not sell off the chickens

JohnAOne:
Why didn't they just sell the chickens cheaply to restraurants and fast food businesses before they ran out of money? 🤷🏾‍♂️

The company was afraid of serious loss