Chickens dumped in wood were savaged by predators
One of the chickens that survived being dumped in the wood near Clonmore ...
A FLOCK of chickens were callously dumped in a Co Carlow wood, then left to fend for themselves overnight against the threat of predators and the bitter cold. Sadly, many of them were brutally attacked by wildlife and killed.
Paddy Kinsella, Blackhill, Clonmore contacted this week to report the appalling act of cruelty he encountered at a woods near his home.
“My wife Teresa was out walking the dog in a wood near us and she came across a load of chickens, about 15 of them, just left there in the wood,” explained Paddy.
“They were just dumped,” he added.
It was Monday evening, 13 January, when Teresa saw the chickens, so at daybreak the following morning Paddy went back to see if there was anything he could do.
“When I went back at daybreak, I came across them, but most of them had been killed, attacked by foxes … they were in bits.
“One or two were alive, or half-alive, up in the ditches or in drains of water. God, they’d a rough night – bits of them were everywhere,” he said.
“They were wet and soaking and scattered everywhere … it was awful,” said Paddy.
The flock of approximately 15 birds included mostly hens, along with two or three cocks. Blackhill is a Coillte-owned woodland of about 80 acres.
Paddy expressed his shock that someone would just dump the chickens and leave them in a wood to be killed by foxes or other predators.
“It was an awful thing to do. You’d just wonder how someone could do that,” he said.
