NSPCA offers R10k reward for information in chicken cruelty case

Silly season has already resulted in the cruel death of a chicken after it was tortured with fireworks. 

The National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) has long raised the alarm of the cruelty fireworks pose to domestic pets as well as farm and wild animals. It was even aware of and has dealt with cases involving people torturing their pets with fireworks. 

But a recent and disturbing video has rendered the NSPCA speechless. 

ALSO READ: 2021 to start with much less of a bang as major venues cancel fireworks displays

In the video, a person can be seen holding a chicken up by its wings, while a man inserts a firework into the rectal cavity of a hen. 

The chicken was filmed running away while its abusers jumped over it to avoid the sparks of the fireworks. 

The fireworks can then be seen exploding in the distance with bystanders cheering. 

It is not yet known what became of the chicken, but the NSPCA said it “surmised that the suffering experienced by the bird was excruciating.”

The council said it hoped that revised lockdown Level 3 regulations, which make the setting off of fireworks significantly more difficult, would “favour South Africa’s animals this year”, and has advocated for lighting a candle instead of setting off fireworks, as per President Cyril Ramaphosa’s suggestion.

Tracking down the perpetrators depicted in the video has proved difficult, even though it was widely shared on social media platforms. 

The NSPCA said it had contacted a Facebook user who shared the video on 26 December, but details regarding the people in the video are not yet known. The video was also downloaded off a group chat.

As such, the NSPCA is offering a reward of R10 000 to anyone with more information into the incident. All information will be confidential. Those who are able to assist can contact NSPCA farm animal protection unit manager Grace de Lange on 011 907 3590, or email farm@nspca.co.za. 

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.