Farmer Tips Live Chickens In Hole Over COVID Price Drop

This is the moment a farmer empties a lorry full of live chickens into a huge pit in the ground before reportedly burying them alive because he could no longer sell them thanks to the coronavirus outbreak.

The startling scenes were filmed by an onlooker in the Gokak area of the Belagavi District in western India’s Karnataka state and later posted onto social media.

The price has reportedly plummeted after rumours that it was possible to catch the disease from chickens.

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT

Video Credit: Newsflash

In the video, a flatbed lorry loaded with a reported 6,000 unwanted chickens can be seen emptying the birds into a huge pit in the ground.

The lorry operator tilts the loading board, forcing the chickens to slide down into the pit as a mechanical digger is parked in the background.

Local media report the farmer Najeer Ahmed Makandar buried the chickens alive as it was too difficult to sell them, and to keep them alive for longer would have resulted in significant losses.

Makandar had reportedly spent 600,000 INR (6,276 GBP) keeping the chickens alive for one month on his farm.

He said that the price of chickens had dropped from 50-70 INR (0.52 – 0.73 GBP) per kilogramme to between 5 and 10 INR (0.05 and 0.10 GBP) per kilogramme because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The farmer added it was not even worth selling them at that price but added: “I cannot sell at such a loss, nor can I maintain the birds.”

Reports state a rumour linking meat consumption with the transmission of COVID-19 had been the cause for the drop in the demand for chickens.


To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Alex CopeSub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash

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