Subject line: Drop Bird Bros

To: Mr McDonnell, CEO of Lidl
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Following our exposé of the horrific conditions and rampant abuse at Sunny Farm, a colony cage egg farm, run by your supplier, Bird Bros, I implore you to do the right thing and drop Bird Bros permanently with immediate effect. You claim that animal welfare is a high priority and that you follow the ‘Five Freedoms for Animal Welfare’ set by the government’s Farmed Animal Welfare Council (FAWC). We exposed Bird Bros failing abysmally to support every single one of these freedoms.
 
1.Freedom from hunger and thirst: Our undercover footage revealed that worker neglect had recently led to the deaths of 300 hens from thirst and starvation.
2.Freedom from discomfort: We filmed hens trapped in the cage mesh, trampled on by other hens. Some were barely able to breathe. One hen was left outside in the snow.
3.Freedom from pain, injury and disease: Many of the hens had severe feather loss. Some were collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily and unable to move. Suffering and left to die. 
4.Freedom to express normal behaviour: Severely crowded cages led to hens having little space to walk or spread their wings.
5.Freedom from fear and distress. Hens were picked up by the wing, thrown and hit with a shovel. One hen had her neck wrung by a worker and was seemingly still conscious as he carried her away and threw her to the floor.

Alongside these atrocious violations towards the hens, we exposed horrendous health and safety conditions on Sunny Farm. Despite your eggs being British Lion standard which promises ‘the highest standard of food safety in the world’, we exposed dead hens left in cages to decompose - some were touching eggs awaiting collection, piles of dead bodies were left on gangway floors and bin bags were stuffed with hens’ bodies and crawling with red mites. Farming hens under any circumstance will still violate all of the Five Freedoms and the rights of these sensitive animals. We, therefore, encourage you to stop selling eggs completely, but a first step towards this would be to drop Bird Bros permanently with immediate effect.

As a company that says you care about accountability in your supply chain, we demand that you keep to your word and drop Bird Bros immediately. 


Yours faithfully,