As I made my way down one of the many long aisles of battery-cages, a hen immediately caught my attention. Her condition was horrifying. I looked into her cage to see her neck caught in the wiring of her small prison. The skin from her neck had been pierced by a sharp metal wire sticking down into the cage. This left her neck attached to the top of the cage while the rest of her body dangled beneath her. To make the situation worse, her crowded cage mates were jostling against her. The more they moved, the more her neck ripped apart. Her skin was torn so badly that veins and muscles were exposed and visible all along the back of her neck. She could not reach food or water in this position and was barely breathing.
I could not leave her in that state. I opened the cage to offer her aid and free her neck from the sharp wire impaling her skin. Once she was loose, she simply collapsed on the cage floor. Her six cagemates trampled her weak and battered body. There was no way I could let her die that way. My heart just wouldn't let me leave her behind. I carefully lifted her out of the cage and carried her in my arms, removing her from this living nightmare.
We immediately rushed the hen, whom we named Jenna, to an avian specialist to have her open wound treated. After receiving treatment, Jenna was taken to a farmed animal sanctuary, where she would never have to live in confinement ever again. For the first time in her life, Jenna could fully stretch her wings, feel the sun on her back and the grass beneath her feet.
As I made my way down one of the many long aisles of battery-cages, a hen immediately caught my attention. Her condition was horrifying. I looked into her cage to see her neck caught in the wiring of her small prison. The skin from her neck had been pierced by a sharp metal wire sticking down into the cage. This left her neck attached to the top of the cage while the rest of her body dangled beneath her. To make the situation worse, her crowded cage mates were jostling against her. The more they moved, the more her neck ripped apart. Her skin was torn so badly that veins and muscles were exposed and visible all along the back of her neck. She could not reach food or water in this position and was barely breathing.
I could not leave her in that state. I opened the cage to offer her aid and free her neck from the sharp wire impaling her skin. Once she was loose, she simply collapsed on the cage floor. Her six cagemates trampled her weak and battered body. There was no way I could let her die that way. My heart just wouldn't let me leave her behind. I carefully lifted her out of the cage and carried her in my arms, removing her from this living nightmare.
We immediately rushed the hen, whom we named Jenna, to an avian specialist to have her open wound treated. After receiving treatment, Jenna was taken to a farmed animal sanctuary, where she would never have to live in confinement ever again. For the first time in her life, Jenna could fully stretch her wings, feel the sun on her back and the grass beneath her feet.