Mallorca chicken farm: 50,000 signatures against plan

On Mallorca, a proposed chicken farm for 80,000 hens in Manacor faces a petition with 50,000 signatures calling for it to be stopped. Animal welfare groups Arde and Satya Animal plan to hand the signatures to the Balearic regional government on Friday.

They say they will deliver them at 11.30 am to the Consolat de Mar in Palma, during the government’s weekly meeting. The groups want Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment Joan Simonet to shelve the project, which Avícola Son Perot plans for the Son Brau estate.

This week, the groups filed two complaints with prosecutors about poultry farms the same company already runs in Manacor. The material they submitted includes images from inside the farms showing live hens, decaying carcasses, eggs with mites, accumulated droppings and cockroaches. The campaigners say the complaints should be considered before the new farm is approved.

Simonet sees the cases differently. Asked on Tuesday, he said an inspection at a farm in Mirabó and the Son Brau proposal were separate matters. The new project remains in the environmental authorisation process, with reports being gathered from local councils and on water resources and transport.

Arde spokeswoman Julia Elizalde says the cases are linked. She points to a farm with 40,000 hens and asks what could happen at one with 80,000. The approval process continues as the groups prepare to take their petition to Friday’s government meeting.

Topics: Nature & wildlife · Agriculture · Manacor

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com