'Frankenchicken' row in High Court could change future of meals on your plate

A major challenging the legality of fast-growing chicken breeds is due to be heard at the Royal Courts of Justice tomorrow which could drastically change the future of British farming.

Dubbed Frankenchickens , the birds constitute around 90% of those raised for meat in the UK. The Humane League UK, who are challenging the Government in this case, believe their use is the biggest animal welfare crisis in the UK.

They argue that the use of these breeds is already illegal, violating the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 - which states farmed animals can’t be kept if their genes cause them suffering.

READ MORE:

During staggeringly short lives – from egg to slaughter in 35 days – 90% of the 1bn birds raised annually for meat in the UK can gain up to 100g a day. As a result these fast-growing breeds have a wide range of health and welfare issues, including heart attacks, lameness, bone deformities, muscle diseases, burns and organ failure. A third also struggle to walk and many suffer horrific injuries and illness.

It is the equivalent of genetically breeding a morbidly obese 28 stone three-year-old human child.

Sean Gifford, Managing Director of The Humane League UK, said: “Most people don’t know what a Frankenchicken is, yet most people are eating them. The Government has a policy permitting the use of these unnatural and illegal breeds, who grow from birth to slaughter weight in just 35 days - if a human baby grew at the same rate they’d weigh 300 kilos, the same as an adult tiger, at 2 months old.

“These animals live in their waste, and many die prematurely from their rapid weight gain. Chickens deserve decent lives; something it is impossible for a Frankenchicken to have. We hope this court case changes things for these billions of birds.”

, Naturalist and Broadcaster, added: “Chickens are wonderful animals, and they’re smarter than you think. Chickens protect their young, communicate with one another, and can even blush. Yet despite there being more chickens than humans on this island we rarely see them, or how they live. Why is that?

“It’s an ugly secret that we kill over one billion of these animals for meat every year, the vast majority of whom are Frankenchickens, birds who grow so big, so quickly they can barely stand up. They live in their own waste, filled with ammonia which burns their legs, in giant sheds far out of our sight. Luckily there is a major case in the courts where The Humane League UK is taking on the government argue that these breeds of chicken are illegal under current laws. I hope you all show them your support and together we can make Frankenchickens a thing of the past.”

This is an appeal case, after The Humane League UK’s arguments were rejected by the High Court, who argued that it was the farmers' responsibility to provide environments that do not cause detriment to chickens’ health or welfare. The Humane League UK argues this places an unreasonable burden on farmers who are simply keeping the standard breeds and following environmental guidance created by Defra.

Over 1.5 million of these chickens die before slaughter on UK farms every week, with many of them suffering from heart attacks and lameness brought on by their unnaturally fast growth. Because of their poor health, Frankenchickens also require up to more antibiotics than slower-growing breeds, contributing to the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The Humane League UK is represented by Advocates for Animals, the UK’s first animal law firm. Edie Bowles, solicitor in the case and Managing Director for Advocates for Animals, said: “Scientific papers prove that fast-growing breeds are suffering more than slower-growing birds. The law is clear; farming animals who suffer detriment to their well being because of their genes is unlawful, yet the Government has created a system which permits these Franken-chickens to be used. This has to change- the lives and legal protections of so many animals are at stake.”

The appeal will be heard on Wednesday and Thursday (23-24 October) at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand - and the RSPCA will act as intervener and provide vital scientific evidence.

Kate Parkes, meat chicken specialist at the, said: “The scale of the suffering involved with meat chickens is huge - we are talking nearly a billion chickens every single year who live short, brutal lives with serious health and welfare issues which could so easily be avoided."