Today a team from Eyes on Animals made an unannounced visit to poultry slaughterhouse Storteboom in Putten (NL). At the time of our visit (13:15) the outside temperature was 39-40 degrees Celsius, with a relative humidity of 30%. Due to the holidays they did not have much time to give us a tour, however we were allowed to quickly observe the birds in the lairage.
In the lairage it was 35-38 degrees Celsius – so a little cooler that outside, but still extremely warm. The relative humidity was a lot higher than outside (60%), making it more difficult for the birds to cope with the high temperatures. With these measured values birds are in what is known as the “emergency zone”.
Thankfully, when the trucks arrive they are immediately unloaded preventing waiting times in front of the slaughterhouse. However, it still takes some time before the birds are stunned.
We could clearly see that the birds were suffering from the heat (open beak breathing with stretched necks ), so it is important that the facilities ventilation is improved, also because summers are getting hotter.
The manager invited us to return to Storteboom on another hot day – when she has more time to discuss with us, ways of improving the ventilation. We want to thank Storteboom for their invitation and for allowing us to have a quick look in the lairage. We look forward to meeting with them again soon.
