BREWSTER, Ohio — A representative for a local animal rights group has posted a disturbing video on Facebook of crews tossing hundreds of dead and injured chickens into a dumpster after a truck crashed on Route 30 near Brewster Friday morning.
The crash occurred at about 5:30 a.m. on US-30 near Pigeon Run Road near Brewster. The driver sustained minor injuries in the dramatic crash. Several thousand chickens spilled out of the overturned tractor trailer onto the median and Pigeon Run Road. Cleanup and recovery of the chickens was handled by Case Farms, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
The live video, posted by Cleveland Animal Save, shows Amy Stewart, a representative for the group, walking up to the scene of the crash as workers are tossing chickens – apparently living and dead – into a dumpster on the side of the road. The video also shows hundreds of live chickens in cages in a truck on the highway.
WARNING: The video is extremely graphic and viewer discretion is highly recommended. If you do not want to see dead chickens, DO NOT click the link. View it here.
“Excuse me! We have a handful of animal sanctuaries that are on-hand right now to take some of these injured animals,” Stewart yells as workers continue dropping chickens into the dumpster. “We’re going to take them to a vet and get them the care they need and we’re going to rehabilitate them.”
Stewart focuses on an injured chicken standing in the middle of the road and asks the crew if she can take it.
“This chicken right here isn’t being turned into food, you guys aren’t making any money off of it…Let me take this chicken home, that’s all I’m asking,” she said.
At that point a supervisor for the crew speaks to Stewart, telling her that she needs to leave the area for her own safety.
She walks back from the scene but again presses forward and argues with the work crew member, who said that he will call police if she doesn’t leave the area.
Eventually, a member of the work crew walks over to Stewart and hands her a live chicken.
“I feel bad for him, too,” the crew member says as she hands over the bird.
Stewart, audibly overcome with emotion, walks through the work site, chicken in hand, back to her car.
The group later posted a video of the recovered chicken, who they named “Pidge.” Stewart said she was taken to a vet and was found not to have any injures. She is now in the care of people who have rescued chickens before and will be going to a sanctuary soon.
Cleveland Animal Save describes itself as a local chapter of The Save movement, a group that opposes factory farming and mass animal slaughter. The group has staged several demonstrations against factory farms, including recently blocking the path of a Case Farms truck in Canton, as reported by the Canton Repository.
News 5 has reached out to Case Farms for a statement about the crash and subsequent clean-up. News 5 has also reached out to several state government agencies and organizations, including the Ohio Department of Agriculture and Ohio State Veterinary School, for comment on how the accident’s clean-up was handled.
