A duck without water? Yes
When we sit in our garden we can hear the quacking of ducks from a factory farm. For quite some time I felt the urge to film these poor animals. So one evening I got the courage and picked up my camera.
These ducks stay in a huge shed on concrete floors without excess to the outdoors.They were all preparing for the night, when I appeared at the window, sitting cuddled up together in their own litter. Normally straw must be added daily in order to control the high levels of ammonia and to prevent the birds from developing ulcerated feet and legs. But their straw was wet and sodden by faeces. You can imagine the smell.
I could see hunderds if not thousands of ducks running away from one side to the other. The noise they made is undescribable.
What seemed odd was that their drinking and feeding containers were raised. Now I know why. Because they were made ready for slaughter. They were deprived of food and drinking water for 2 if not even more whole days.
It was also clear that these animals never had the chance to clean themselves, let alone swim. Ducks are inquisitive animals that spend lots of time preening. In essence ducks like to be clean. So it is vital to them that they can immerse themselves in water. But in this farm there was no water to be seen.
Loading time approached. They were lifted by their necks and put into crates. And that is where my words end. Because there are no words for this. Instead look at the film I made that you can find at the bottom of this page.
Read more about the welfare issues of duck farming on the Humane Society of the United States website and the Viva website
While you watch this video, imagine the fear in their eyes, the noise of their cries and the smell of their litter and your picture is complete.
