Flemish protest against catching chickens by the legs

For many years now, the European Transport Regulation forbids catching chickens by the legs. Photo: Ton Kastermans

In the poultry industry, before transport to the slaughterhouse, chickens in Belgium are often caught in a painful manner – by the legs – and put into crats. A Flemish organisation for better animal welfare is fighting against such illegal practices.

Poultry farmers in Flanders are still allowed to catch chicken by the legs, a practice which causes unnecessary suffering for the animals and is explicitly forbidden by the European Union.

The chickens are lifted up upside down by one leg, 3-5 animals at the time, and pushed into the crats. Millions of animals break their wings or legs and suffer from serious breathing difficulties and stress because of these practices, says the Flemish organisation for better animal welfare, Harrison Collectief. The collective of legal professionals, which started in 2023 to fight bad animal welfare practices in the country, has started a procedure at the Belgium State Council against the Inspection for Animal Welfare which, according to the Collectief, refuses to take action against the illegal practices of a number of poultry farmers.

The law is not enforced

For many years now, the European Transport Regulation forbids catching chickens by the legs. However, in Belgium there is no prosecution or sanctioning against infringements of this law. Public information shows that several companies specialised in catching chickens use these forbidden practices, according to the organisation.

The Harrison Collectief has asked the Flemish Inspectorate for Animal Welfare to take action against 3 of these companies and to sanction them. The Inspectorate has refused this request and also admitted explicitly that it doesn’t enforce the relevant law.

The Harrison Collectief stresses that judges in the Netherlands have, up to 3 times, ruled that catching chickens by the legs is forbidden. Those judgements are based on the EU Transport Regulation which also applies to Belgium. There is also a simple and animal-friendly alternative by holding the chicken straight up, the Harrison Collectief says.

“The reasons the Flemish inspectorate mentions not enforcing the rules are identical to the ones used by the Dutch authorities. The Flemish authorities say it is not the intention of the European law to forbid this method and also sums up economic reasons why a prohibition would not be desirable. Dutch courts, however, have stated clearly that those reasons are not sufficient and that the relevant authorities have to enforce the interdiction. The refusal by the Flemish Inspectorate to act is a clear infringement of the European enforcement rules,” the Harrison Collectief says. “With this procedure, we aim at a ban of this illegal catching method as well as a general improvement of the enforcement of animal welfare laws in Flanders.”