Fifty L214 animal rights activists gathered on Thursday on the Esplanade du Trocadéro in Paris to denounce the breeding conditions of the company Le Gaulois. They displayed 44 chicken carcasses for an hour to illustrate the “44 days of hectic growth,” according to the association.
About fifty animal rights activists from L214 gathered Thursday morning on the Esplanade du Trocadéro in Paris to protest the breeding conditions of the chickens sold by the company Le Gaulois. The activists displayed 44 chicken carcasses, from chicks to their packaging, to illustrate “44 days of hectic growth,” according to the association.
These carcasses are from “a Le Gaulois farm” and “were collected day by day by a whistleblower who had authorized access to the farm,” the association said. “With this illustration, we can see that a small 50-gram chick grows to a 3-kilo chicken [at the time of slaughter], so it has grown 60 times in just six weeks. This illustrates the madness that happens in farms,” said Brigitte Gothière, co-founder of L214.
A “smear campaign,” according to the LDC group
Contacted by AFP, the LDC Group that markets Le Gaulois has denounced a “smear campaign” against its brand and “misinformation about French farming.” “This is an affront to the professionalism of all our farmers and all the employees in our industry, who make this poultry the most virtuous in the world. All specifications and regulations are met,” it said.
L214 is urging the brand to stop using “ultra-rapid growth” genetic strains called Ross 308 and to “commit to banning the worst farming practices.” “Le Gaulois treats its chickens like objects, produces them as if they were cars,” said Léo Le Ster, campaign manager for L214, who believes this accelerated growth affects the health of the chickens.
The 44 chickens on display “have all died of heart attacks, lung problems, various diseases, sometimes, there are, weak ones, which could not reach the drinkers and feeders and died of hunger or thirst,” he lamented. The association, which aspires to a world without animal exploitation and therefore without meat, seeks to make a lasting impression. “We bring the chickens here to show what it really does, because it is true that for people who do not know [this subject] well, it can be very abstract,” said Pauline Laporte, an employee of the association.
“Even if you have been an activist for animal rights for a long time, you never really get used to the horror,” added Hélène, also an employee of the association, who is carrying the carcass of a chicken that died after 36 days. “When they brought me the chicken, I had to hold back the tears.” Presenter Nagui, who was present, called the fate of the chickens “unthinkable.” “It’s great that this [agri-food] group makes money, I have nothing against them, but they might as well do it with a clear conscience and with respect for the animal, the farmer, and the consumer,” he said.
