A fundraising page to help treat the hens injured in Sunday night's lorry blaze in Co Tyrone has raised almost £10,000.
Most of the 8,000 hens perished when the lorry they were in caught on fire in the tragedy but some managed to escape when the crates they were in melted. The fire closed the Benburb Road, Moy for three hours on Sunday evening.
In response members of the Northern Ireland Battery Hen Rescue and Re-homing Group based at Crumlin managed to save 43 hens with more still continuing in.
Babs Mladek from Moria set up the non-profit organisation in 2011 and put out an appeal for help to treat the birds by launching a Gofundme page.
She explained: “These girls were on their way to be slaughtered when the lorry they were in caught fire. Most of the 8,000 hens were burnt to death but some managed to escape when the crates they were in melted.
“The ones that got out were vet checked and sadly most were so badly burned they had to be euthanized.
“We have managed to save 43, some with bad burns but are treatable and most suffering the effects of toxic smoke inhalation. Unfortunately three have since died as their injuries were so bad.
"In all my 13 years of the Northern Ireland Battery Hen Rescue and Re-homing Group, I have never seen such horrific injuries. Attending the scene was terrible, totally heartbreaking. There were dead bodies everywhere. I felt like someone had punched me and was pulling out my insides. These birds were going to slaughter but they didn’t deserve to die like that.”
Most of the 8,000 hens perished when the lorry they were in caught on fire in the tragedy but some managed to escape when the crates they were in melted. The fire closed the Benburb Road, Moy for three hours on Sunday evening.
In response members of the Northern Ireland Battery Hen Rescue and Re-homing Group based at Crumlin managed to save 43 hens with more still continuing in.
Babs Mladek from Moria set up the non-profit organisation in 2011 and put out an appeal for help to treat the birds by launching a Gofundme page.
She explained: “These girls were on their way to be slaughtered when the lorry they were in caught fire. Most of the 8,000 hens were burnt to death but some managed to escape when the crates they were in melted.
“The ones that got out were vet checked and sadly most were so badly burned they had to be euthanized.
“We have managed to save 43, some with bad burns but are treatable and most suffering the effects of toxic smoke inhalation. Unfortunately three have since died as their injuries were so bad.
"In all my 13 years of the Northern Ireland Battery Hen Rescue and Re-homing Group, I have never seen such horrific injuries. Attending the scene was terrible, totally heartbreaking. There were dead bodies everywhere. I felt like someone had punched me and was pulling out my insides. These birds were going to slaughter but they didn’t deserve to die like that.”
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00So, this little angel is very quiet. This is the wee hen that Danny and Lauren brought
00:12me at the end of last night. And whilst her skin's not that badly burnt, she's obviously
00:21suffered the effects of the heat because there's, most of the feathers around her body are singed.
00:28So, she's still, I would say, in shock. So, if you just keep her warm, making sure she drinks
00:36and eats, and paying meds because she has a couple of bad burns in her legs. So, we're treating them
00:45and we're just hoping we can get her through the next 24 hours.