Chickens die during trailer fire
Earlier this week, a transport trailer carrying 8,000 chickens caught fire on a highway in Mississauga.
While a few birds were able to escape from their broken transport crates, an estimated 3,000 chickens burned alive. The surviving animals, some undoubtedly burned or injured, were subjected to further stress by being loaded into a second trailer and taken to slaughter.
Canada’s livestock transport system is the worst in the Western world. Drivers are not required to have any animal handling training and animals can be trucked thousands of kilometers for up to 52 hours at a time without any food, water or rest. Without counting accidents, over 8 million animals die as a result of transportation each year.
