Communiqué from ALF activists
Date: November 5, 2007
Institution targeted: Shepherd’s Egg Farm
Received anonymously (See photos at bottom.)
NOVEMBER 5, 2007
On the night of Thursday November 1st, the Animal Liberation Front entered a shed at Shepherd’s Egg Farm near Spanish Fork, Utah to liberate as many hens as possible from this living hell.
In this single shed out of several, we saw literally tens of thousands of hens suffering in conditions even worse than we imagined. Words cannot sufficiently capture this nightmare. They were so crowded in battery cages they could hardly move at all, let alone spread their wings. They all had significant feather loss from struggling to get through the wire cages to escape for their lives. Many birds had their heads or wings stuck in the wires of their cages, and were left to die because they could not reach any food or water. Their beaks had been mutilated by factory workers. Everyday they must breathe in the overwhelming and disgusting stench from the mountains of manure below their cages. It should be no surprise that none of these birds receive one bit of veterinary care for their numerous injuries and diseases.There was a hole in the floor of the farm for workers to throw dead birds into a garbage can below (see footage). While the view inside Shepherd’s Eggs was gruesome, it is in no way unique. These cruelties can be found in all modern egg farms, including so-called “free range” facilities.
We moved quickly to remove as many birds as we could. We knew that Shepherd’s Eggs cared so little about their birds that they would likely not even notice that they were gone. We took one or two from each cage, so the remaining chickens would have a little more room. The exploiters will try to scare consumers out of supporting this liberation by saying we increased a risk of some sort of biological contamination. This is a lie. We took every possible precaution to ensure we wouldn’t harm the hens or ourselves, including being covered head to toe with all of the necessary bio-safety gear.
Altogether we rescued 102 hens. All hens received veterinary care and were placed in loving homes. They ran around their new homes with joy, appreciative of their first experience of freedom. None were released into the wild. In their new homes they all have access to the outdoors. They can all breathe in fresh air. They are able to dust bathe and scratch the soil, instead of metal wires. They will all live out their full lifespan here instead of being killed when no longer profitable. In other words, these chickens can finally live like chickens.
All sentient animals, like these chickens, will always suffer as long as they are seen as nothing more than objects whose exploitation leads to increased profits and cheaper food. The only solution is to simply stop buying eggs and other animal products. Less than 1% of the hens at Shepherd’s Eggs could be rescued today. It’s up to consumers to save the other 99%.
Until consumers become responsible and stop paying the exploiters, you can count on the ALF to continue hurting their profits directly through property destruction and other forms of economic sabotage. Around the world the ALF is making progress and saving lives. This action is dedicated to all animal liberation prisoners including Barry Horne. Barry died six years ago today on a hunger strike. He would still be alive today if it wasn’t for the stubborn cruelty of humanity. We will never forget Barry and we will never forgive the exploiters.
A.L.F.
