Over 1,000 live chickens fall off truck exiting Interstate

[matcom]

<snip>

MARSHALLS CREEK — More than 1,000 live chickens fell off a truck exiting Interstate 80 early Thursday morning on their way from a Pennsylvania farm to an upstate New York processing plant.

At least 100 plastic crates of Murray's Chickens toppled from the tractor-trailer as it rounded the tight curve of Exit 309 sometime around 3 a.m., heading to Marshalls Creek. The truck left a trail of chickens, feathers and crates for three miles up Route 209 as the driver continued on his way, not realizing he'd lost part of the poultry he was packing.

About 6,000 chickens were on the truck. An unknown number were killed.

"We only lost a couple hundred," said Dan Koplik, an operations manager at the Murray's Chicken plant in South Fallsburg, N.Y. "We've had worse spills."

Those chickens that escaped from broken crates wandered around clucking, or sat quietly under the guide rail on the edge of the road. Many were injured or stunned and silent in their crates.

Each crate, roughly 2 feet by 3 feet, was packed with about 12 live birds. Fifteen rows of crates were stacked nine high and four across on the trailer, with the stacks secured by retaining straps. One of the retaining straps split and gave way as the truck made the turn.


http://www.poconorecord.com/topstory/tdo18743.htm

[name not needed]

1. Hey! This chicken I ordered from KFC has skid marks on it!

:P

[Southsideirish]

2. Oh, you are a card! I hope you never come back as a chicken. n/t

[JohnKleeb]

4. yeah I was wondering why my chicken smelt like asphalt

[Shananigans]

3. WRONG!

A 2 by 3 crate stuffed with 12 live chickens? That's just wrong. And I'm not even one of those PETA loving, vegitarian types (no offense intended).

WRONG!

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. that is wrong, very wrong

....but oh so tasty. :P

[GOPisEvil]

8. WTF?!?!

12 chickens in 18 cubic feet? :wtf:

[Xithras]

10. Not quite as bad as it sounds

Ever held a live chicken of processing age? They're not very big and they tend to hunch up. This place, according to the article, raises some king of organic and "certified humane" chicken, so I'd be suprised if the chickens were just wedged into these crates.

Besides, you DON'T want any live animal to have room to move around when they're being transported on a trailer, or they tend to get beaten around as the truck hits bumps, brakes, and rounds curves.

[mark11727]

5. Chicken Run....!

[pagerbear]

7. Poultry in motion

[Rainbowreflect]

9. LOL

I was thinking "As God as my witness I thought turkeys could fly".

[qanda]

11. For a minute I thought this story was about Bush

and his chickenhawk friends.

[nickgutierrez]

12. How do you find this stuff?

Is there a 'weird news story' feed somewhere out there or something?