A HAULER who transported 4,000 hens from Macroom to Roscommon pleaded not guilty at Cork District Court yesterday to a charge of causing the fowl unnecessary suffering.
One of the hens had escaped and was spotted by Sgt Tony Fitzpatrick sitting on top of the trailer when it was stopped at traffic lights in Cork last December.
Mr Gerry Purcell, Killure, Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny admitted not having taxed the vehicle, and failing to produce his insurance. He was fined £350 on the road traffic offences.
Sgt Fitzpatrick said he inspected the trailer after learning that Mr Purcell was taking the hens on a 185 mile journey. He found three more escaped hens stuck between the crates and the trailer in a distressed condition.
The trailer had open sides, it was a cold night and the hens were screeching. There were 12 hens cramped in each 2 ft by 3 ft crate, some lying on their sides with their wings sticking out of the boxes, he said.
Replying to Mr Joe Cuddigan, solicitor, for Mr Purcell, Sgt Fitzpatrick said he checked with the Department of Agriculture about regulations on transporting poultry by road and was told there were none.
He accepted that the statutory instrument handed into court by Mr Cuddigan on transporting poultry by sea was correct. This allowed for 12 hens to be carried in containers of a similar size to those used by Mr Purcell.
The solicitor said it was his experience that hens in large groups were noisy at night in lit up areas but were quiet in the dark, and he added that grouped together in crates they kept each other warm.
Mr Purcell said the sides of the trailer could not be enclosed as the birds would suffocate without enough air. In Roscommon, only six birds were dead and another 14 were rejected by the factory vets. He believed this was a good record.
Judge Morough Connellan decided to adjourn the case until today before making a decision on whether or not to convict on the cruelty charge, as he wanted time to examine the statutory instrument handed into court.