UK Duck Farming
CAMPAIGN RELEASE: AUGUST 16TH 2020
As children we are often taken to the park to feed the ducks, finding enjoyment from seeing them swimming and enjoying their lives.
However, every year in the UK we farm and slaughter 14 million ducks, raising them in horrifying conditions before they are transported to have their throats cut.
Ducks are farmed intensively, with as many as 10,000 birds confined in a single barn, meaning around 4 ducks are packed into every square metre.
Throughout their 6 week lifespan, farmed ducks will never see the sky or feel the sun on their feathers, until the day that they are taken to be slaughtered.
Human inflicted violence is common place on duck farms, with farmers documented kicking live birds, holding them by their necks and throwing them, dislocating their necks, before throwing them to the side, with the ducks often still alive, convulsing on the floor.
Farmers were documented walking around, throwing dead and dying ducks into a pile, as the ducks showed clear signs of pain and suffering - however they were ignored, left to die in extreme agony.
This method of killing the animals by dislocating their necks is considered a legal practice, with the RSPCA even labelling it as being humane.
A farmer was also documented driving over a duck with a tractor, with the duck still alive as the tractor then proceeded to spread hay throughout the barn. The duck who had been run over was unable to move and was consequently buried alive underneath the hay.
Furthermore, experts say that ducks display physical and psychological problems when they don’t have access to water to splash about in. However, within these barns the ducks are not given any access to water for them to immerse themselves in.
In fact, the only time ducks are submerged in water is when are they are in the slaughterhouse shackled by their feet on a conveyor belt and forced into an electrified water bath.
As they are unable to display their normal behaviour and because of psychological strain placed on them, ducks often begin to cannibalise one other, pecking and wounding each other.
Farmed ducks have also been selectively bred to reach slaughter age in a matter of weeks, meaning that a huge amount of strain is placed on their organs and limbs, leading to the ducks being unable to walk, and developing lameness and organ failure, with many ducks stuck on their backs, left to die on the floor of the sheds.
Due to their intense confinement and the fact that the floors of the barns are never cleaned, the ducks are forced to spend all day stood in the urine and faeces covered floors. New layers of hay are spread on top, but they too become saturated with faeces and urine.
When the ducks reach slaughter age, teams of catchers work through the barns, kicking the ducks and picking them up by their necks or wings and throwing them, before violently forcing them into crates. Throughout this process many of the birds suffer from broken bones and sprains that they are forced to endure as they are taken to the slaughterhouse. The catchers will also dislocate the necks of the birds, again leaving them convulsing on the floor.
Ducks are sensitive animals, who are heavily exploited and treated as objects by farmers and companies whose only aim is to make money from their suffering.
We are in the process of reporting any relevant footage to the relevant authorities, however, the practices seen in our investigation into 3 UK duck farms are of a standard nature in the bird farming industry.