Undercover footage shows chicks being bashed to death at Polish poultry farm

Sick, malnourished and deformed birds cruelly culled by staff

Undercover footage of an industrial chicken farm in Poland has revealed staff boasting about killing sick animals "just like Hitler at Auschwitz."

The film shows one worker bashing the tiny birds to death on a metal rail before throwing their bodies into buckets.

It also reveals staff picking up large numbers of dead or rotting animals from the floor of the huge facility in the western county of Strzelce-Drezdenko.

Poland is Europe's biggest producer of poultry meat and exports around 65,000 tonnes to the UK every year.

Animal protection organisation Open Cages said the crowded and filthy conditions on the broiler farm were similar to those in this country.

"The only difference is the level of cruelty and violence shown in the video which we have not seen so far in the UK," said spokeswoman Kirsty Henderson.

Open Cages has been unable to confirm whether any chicken from the farm reaches the UK.

The video was filmed over six weeks by a farm worker, "Adam", using a hidden camera.

He recorded an employee demonstrating how to kill chicks who were either too sick or too slow to grow, grabbing them and smashing their skulls against a metal rail.

One of the animals killed was a three-legged chicken. Another was blind.

The employee was recorded explaining: “Just like Hitler with Auschwitz, you do the same here.”

“What I documented on this farm illustrates the daily aspects of cruelty related to chicken farming the world over such as overstocking, bone fractures, heart failure and animals who have grown so fast they can’t walk," said Adam.

"It also illustrates what we deem to be illegal animal abuse like inhumane slaughter and the throwing and stepping on of animals.

"The cruelty I witnessed will stay with me forever.”

Broiler farms are normally huge, windowless sheds that house hundreds of chickens at a time until they grow to "slaughter weight".

The cramped and dirty conditions means many birds become lame or sick and die before they reach "slaughter weight" after around five to six weeks.

Two months ago animal rights charity PETA released a video of chickens being kept next to carcasses at a Buckinghamshire poultry farm which supplies Nandos.

PETA said: "Many people who eat chicken have never so much as seen a picture of the inside of a broiler farm. They have no idea about the immense suffering behind their food.

"The best way to help these animals is to stop eating them."

Open Cages has notified the public prosecutor’s office in Poland about the allegation of animal cruelty.