FREE BIRDS! FREE AT LAST! The Jet Hen Rescue at Farm Sanctuary

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• published: 31 Oct 2013
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Free at last! Free at last! As the heroic turkey animation FREE BIRDS opens in theatres, here is the story of rescued chickens, the closest living relative to the T-Rex. FREE BIRDS: FREE AT LAST! is about the Jet Hen Rescue at Farm Sanctuary. 1150 Leghorn hens arrive at Farm Sanctuary, in New York, as part of a group of 3,000 hens rescued by Animal Place and Harvest Home. In California, the industrial egg farm would have gassed the hens & dumped them into big compost piles. Susie Coston, National Shelter Director at Farm Sanctuary (FS), introduces us to a group of ecstatic rescued chickens and shares her gluten-free blueberry treat from Bunners, a vegan bake shop in Toronto, the day before the jet arrives. We learn that even on "cage free" egg farms, the cruel practice of de-beaking is done to baby chicks with a blade, an electrical or infrared device, without any anaesthetic. "They just want to get going!" At 6:25 am on September 5, 2013, the next morning at Elmira airport, Susie and a group of FS caregivers, interns and volunteers, unload the crates of chickens into trucks and vans for their journey to Farm Sanctuary, where each will be given individualized care and a health check. It is pure joy to see the hens drinking water and stretching their wings and pecking at the soil. The little cooing noises they make as they frolic about signify happiness. The contrast of these hens having been on egg farms, really windowless warehouses, trapped for two years in large sheds in battery cages the size of a sheet of paper, without sunlight and unable stretch their wings, is enough to want to free all hens from this cruelty and injustice. At the health check, the health ailments of the factory farm conditions they suffered for years is painfully obvious: • Bumble-foot is an infection caused by pressure or an object lodged in the foot. In an egg farm, it would go untreated. • Debeaking makes it difficult for hens to clean bugs off themselves. Living in wire cages or crowded "cage-free" sheds denies hens access to dirt for dust baths. • Severely debeaked hens sometimes have the tip of their tongue cut off. Debeaking creates trouble with eating and can cause chronic pain. • With "forced moulting" hens are starved on egg farms for 5 to 14 days to induce another laying cycle Too many eggs Wild birds lay between 5 and 20 eggs per year only in the springtime and only to make babies. Layer hens are overbred to produce close to 300 eggs in a year. If hens were to just lay eggs to reproduce, they'd lay a clutch and when their nest was full, they would stop laying and start nesting on the eggs until they hatch. Sadly, the egg industry exploits this by removing their eggs daily. This is a signal to the hens that their nest isn't full so they continue to lay. This extreme toll on their bodies causes belly fluids, prolapse, where their uterus fall out of the body, cancers and belly masses. These reproductive problems would be fatal in an egg farm, where the sickly hens are not treated. An infection that goes septic is a very painful way to die. Debora Roppolo, a volunteer from Toronto, explains "It's very good from here," after she feeds the birds again in the evening and collects eggs to be ground up, and fed back to the hens, to replenish their lost calcium, after years of being exploited in a dark and ammonia-filled, filthy warehouse. Free at last! Free at last! GO VEGAN FOR FREEDOM "Yet millions of chickens were killed the very day that these girls made it to sanctuary, and millions more continue to be added to a system filled with suffering. For every bird who was saved as part of this rescue, another is born to take her place in production," says Susie Coston. "The only way to combat this cruelty is to stop eating eggs and go vegan!" - - - A Pig Save Films Production http://www.PigSaveFilms.org CHARACTERS: Miranda Lee, hen Curious hen following camera Marge, pig Susie Coston, National Shelter Director at Farm Sanctuary Jillian Tedeschi, Katie Mokkosian, and Laura Rothong, Animal Caregivers Debra Roppolo, volunteer Jo-Anne McArthur, WeAnimals.org Rescue Team's Caregivers: Antonia Barbano, Laura Rothong, Katie Mokkosian Mario Ramirez, Mike Stura , Wendy Stura Chris Klug, Wendy Matthews, Jessica Johnson Jen Bates, Breezy Marie, Jamie London (Animal Place) Jim Dumbleton, Russ LaFever Kevin Weil, Sarah Cody, Chelsea Vogus Farm Sanctuary interns: Jordan Rivkin, Megan Travis-Carr, Amy Gaetz, Hazel Kitson, and Genevieve Nierman. Camera: Anita Krajnc, www.TorontoPigSave.org Editors: Anita Krajnc & Mary Fantaske Research Team: Molly Jordan, Toronto Chicken Save social media & former Animal Caregiver Mary Fantaske, Toronto Chicken Save Photos: Jo-Anne McArthur, WeAnimals.org Music: Explosions in the Sky, "Human Qualities" & "Be Comfortable" & Ric Mattingley, "Guelph Pig Save" Funding: Culture & Animals Foundation *Thank you to Animal Place's Rescue Branch Program for rescuing these amazing hens!