Activists of the AnimaNaturalis group are targeting the Lidl chain of supermarkets, asking them to stop the “unnecessary suffering” of chickens.
After the publication of investigative reports on poultry farms in Germany, Spain and Italy, the organisation denounces the suffering generated by current bad practices in terms of animal welfare in broiler farming.
“The activists, within the framework of the international day for animal rights, will show the consequences of the worst practices in animal welfare by demanding that Lidl immediately eliminate unnecessary suffering of animals in its supply chain by adhering to the European Chicken Commitment”, explains Eliana Solange, spokesperson for AnimaNaturalis.
The organisation stresses that deformations are common in poultry macro-farms and are produced due to genetic selection in what is known as broiler chickens, which reach market weight 400% faster than they did 50 years ago. The impact of such rapid growth and disproportionate bodybuilding is reflected in the extensive list of diseases that these birds are increasingly prone to suffer. Animal welfare is integral to the sustainability of the food system. The conditions of these animals reflect the lack of interest that supermarkets, such as Lidl, have been showing in adapting to minimum animal welfare requirements, established in the European Chicken Commitment.
Faced with these problems, the largest animal protection organisations worldwide insist on the need to implement new measures for the poultry sector. One of its initiatives is the European Chicken Commitment (ECC), an agreement to which more than 300 companies in Europe have adhered and which includes the replacement of fast-growing breeds (such as those seen in the report) by breeds of slower and more natural growth.
“Lidl is one of the few large supermarkets in Spain that has not joined,” adds Solange.
For this reason, AnimaNaturalis, along with Igualdad Animal, are organising a protest rally on Saturday, December 17 at 11:30 a.m., starting at Pl. de Tirso de Molina, 16, 28012 Madrid, to inform the people who buy about the reality that these chickens live and demand that Lidl change its “Animal Welfare” policy.
There will also be a protests this Saturday, 10 December, in Barcelona, starting at noon at Gran Via, and in Elche, Alicante, at the Lidl store in Av. D’Alacant..
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