Thousands of chickens die in South Africa road accident

Thousands of chickens died in a South African road accident on the way to the abattoir, and thousands more birds injured in the incident were put down, the country’s animal protection society said Tuesday.

A truck carrying 13,600 chickens overturned near northern city Rustenburg late Monday afternoon, according to the SPCA.

SPCA inspectors found thousands of dead chickens on the scene and several thousands more injured, the body said in a statement.

They started with “emergency slaughter” of the wounded birds, and sent the rest on to the abattoir where officials “worked through the night into the early hours of the morning” to kill almost 3,500 more suffering chickens.