For the first time in history, hens on a large American poultry farm have been caught and loaded according to the Eyes on Animals method – upright and not dangling upside down by one leg.
This involved a poultry farm of Kipster, which also uses the upright catching method for their hens in the Netherlands. We trained the catching teams (primarily catchers from Mexico) and supervised the catching and loading process.
The catching and loading process went very smoothly. The catchers took our instructions and advice seriously and worked calmly. However, we were concerned about the method used to kill the hens. In the US, this is done on the poultry farm itself, in containers with CO2 gas. The hens are thus not transported to a slaughterhouse. While this is positive in that it spares the hens from long transport, it is crucial that the stunning is carried out adequately and with minimal stress. This was not always the case. Fortunately, the company responsible for the killing took our recommendations very seriously. Several recommendations have already been implemented. We would like to thank the company for their trust and follow-up actions. We also want to thank Kipster for introducing the upright catching and loading method in America together with Eyes on Animals.
