Mallorca’s 80,000-chicken farm plan faces human chain

Mallorca’s proposed farm for 80,000 chickens faces a human chain at 11am on Sunday, 25 October, in Son Brau, near Manacor on Mallorca. The No Macrogranjas campaign group is organising the protest. On Friday, animal welfare groups Arde and Satya Animal handed the Balearic Islands government 50,000 signatures collected across Spain, calling for the plan to be rejected.

What happens with the farm plan?

The groups say keeping so many chickens in one building would create problems for managing the farm and harm the environment. They say Manacor town council and other bodies have issued reports opposing the project.

Satya Animal spokesman Kike Gimeno says he does not know exactly how far the plan has progressed. But he says the company has bought the land and legal preparations are under way. The groups accuse the Balearic Islands government of supporting the project and say its Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment has no plans to stop it.

A separate farm dispute

The protest comes in the same week that Arde and Satya Animal reported a different chicken farm in Manacor to the Balearic Islands public prosecutor. They say they documented sick chickens, carcasses, eggs with mites and cockroaches there. The Balearic Islands Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment inspected that farm on Tuesday.

Agriculture minister Joan Simonet said the Avícola Ballester farm, which has two sheds with room for around 40,000 birds, had been empty since the previous week. He said its chickens had been taken to a slaughterhouse in Murcia with the required permits.

On Thursday, Avícola Ballester and Avícola Son Perot announced plans for legal action against the animal welfare groups over allegations concerning two farms on Mallorca.

Topics: Protests · Agriculture · Manacor · Sineu

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com