On Friday, February the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(RSPCA), received a report of an estimated 1800 day-old chicks being abandoned in a field located in Crowland near Peterborough, England.
The chicks were reported to have come from nearby commercial chick producer nd abandoned by a third party who may have purchased the chicks.
The majority of chicks discovered were reported to be in good health, whilst a few received injuries and others had died.
A thousand one-day-old chicks dumped near Crowland Lincs. RSPCA investigating who did it. pic.twitter.com/74P9XVF9t9
— BBC Look North (EYL) (@looknorthBBC) February 18, 2017
RSPCA inspector Justin Stubbs who arrived first at the scene said, "I have never seen anything like it, it was just a sea of yellow. And the noise was unbelievable. The chicks are only about a day old and are really tiny and quite delicate. Some of the birds were dead or dying when we arrived so some, sadly, had to be humanely put to sleep. Thankfully, most of the chicks did not appear to be suffering."
The chicks were rescued and housed by a local chick breeder.
Justin was amazed at the resiliency of the baby birds, "These tiny birds wouldn't have survived long out on their own at such a young age and in such unpredictable weather conditions. For someone to dump these vulnerable chicks is unbelievable."