Chickens freed by rights group

THE militant animal rights group, the Animal Liberation Front, raided a battery hen farm and "liberated" more than 1,000 chickens before issuing threats that their next attack would be more extreme.

Police launched an investigation into the incident yesterday, as members of the ALF claimed responsibility for the raid which caused damage worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at Wallops Wood Farm at Droxford, Hampshire.

The raid followed a high court injunction taken against the ALF and another rights group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, which restricted their annual Easter protest march in Cambridgeshire. The injunction banned abusive communications to employees and associates of Huntingdon Life Sciences drug-testing group, a long-standing target of both groups who want to see the institution shut down.

Sixteen members of the ALF, wearing balaclavas, stormed the farm building on Good Friday in an operation which had been planned for weeks. They cut through cages and doors and stole 1000 hens, carrying them off in two large horse boxes.

A spokesman for Animal Concern said that, as no-one and nothing was harmed in the attack, they would not condemn the tactics used. "We wouldn’t endorse the attack, but as long as fire or explosions were not used, we would not condemn then," said John Robbins, of Animal Concern. "It’s highly unlikely that the ALF would release these birds into the countryside and ex-battery birds tend to recover very quickly."

A spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front said the raid was carried out to prevent the "most unbelievable suffering deliberately inflicted on fragile creatures".

The practice of battery farming was "deliberate cruelty and neglect" he said.

He further warned that if others replace the stolen birds in the cages, then the groups response would be far more extreme.

The spokesman added: "As can be seen from video footage, birds that become immobilised with the waste that sticks to their legs aren’t even able to forage for scraps of food.

"These slowly sink into the sodden waste and die horribly where they lay, only able to resist hungry rats and other hens as long as they are able to survive."

Police were called in by senior staff at the buildings which are operated by John Parkers Farms Ltd, and discovered major damage.

A spokesman for Hampshire Police said: "We are continuing to investigate."