2 days Ago By Claire Cartmill
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.
” Thanking everyone who has donated in the last 36 hours, Babs said she is ‘gobsmacked’ by the amount so far. "On Monday I set up the ‘In Memory of Izzy, victim of the egg industry and lorry fire Gofundme page’ with a target of £500, but thanks to the generosity of the local community this figure was quickly increased to £10,000. "An amazing 518 people have donated and £9,049 has so far been raised with money still coming in, I’m gobsmacked.
It means these hens will get the best antibiotics and dressings. These girls will need ongoing treatment for the next month or so before we can truly assess if any are well enough to be rehomed. Some might even need long-term help.
"I would urge everyone to please continue to help us to get these little ladies everything they need to make it through.” Babs would also like to thanked the local vets from Parklands Veterinary Group in Dungannon who worked throughout the night with the crates of live hens at the scene, assessing them and humanely putting to sleep the ones "too sick to recover." The Gofundme page can be found here Babs Mladek from Moria, who set up Northern Ireland Battery Hen Rescue and Re-homing Group in Crumlin, put out an appeal for help to treat the 43 surviving birds burnt in a lorry fire by launching a Gofundme page.
Pictured with some of the hens Photo: u Pictured is a hen called Izzy who died from her injuries after being burnt when a lorry she was travelling in caught fire on Sunday Photo: u Pictured is a hen who suffered horrific injuries after being burnt when a lorry she was travelling in caught fire on Sunday Photo: u Pictured is a one of the lucky hens whose injuries we not as serious after being burnt when a lorry she was travelling in caught fire on Sunday Photo: u.
