‘Sea’ of day-old chicks dumped in Cambrideshire field

The animal welfare charity was called on Friday (February 17) by members of the public who spotted what they thought to be around 1,000 little chicks roaming free in Crowland, near Peterborough.

RSPCA inspector Justin Stubbs said the noise was ‘unbelievable’.

He said: “I have never seen anything like it, it was just a sea of yellow.

“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.

‘Unbelievable’

“Thankfully, most of the chicks did not appear to be suffering.”

The RSPCA believed the chicks had come from a commercial chick producer nearby but had been dumped by a third-party.

The producer is said to be fully cooperating and assisting the RSPCA with their investigations.

“The breeder came to the scene to collect the surviving birds and take them back to their unit,” inspector Stubbs added.

“These tiny birds would not 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.

“But I would like to thank all the members of the public who teamed together to help us round up all the birds and confine them in boxes where they could huddle together for warmth.”

Anyone with any information about who is responsible for dumping the birds is urged to contact the RSPCA’s inspector appeal line on 0300 123 8018.