Luvin Arms saved the lives of over 600 LaSalle chickens and found them loving homes all around the country. A rescue mission of unprecedented scale, ghastly sights, and a strong underlying message.
We are celebrating ‘International Respect for Chicken Month’ and I want to begin this
newsletter by paying tribute to the 36,000 LaSalle Chickens. In today’s
newsletter, you will read about their stunning rescue story.
Thanks to the tireless efforts made by Luvin Arms staff and over 150
generous volunteers and activists, Luvin Arms saved the lives of over 600
LaSalle chickens and found them loving homes all around the country. A
rescue mission of unprecedented scale, ghastly sights, and a strong
underlying message.
Plus, you will get up close with Valentine - one of the rescued LaSalle
Chickens - still alive to tell her story.
If you believe that your companion animal loves to cuddle no end, just wait
until you meet our affectionate chicken lady Valentine!
The Shocking Story of LaSalle Chickens
Rescue
A Desperate Plea on a Chilling Winter Night
On the night of December 30th, 2018, during one of Colorado’s unforgiving
winters, Luvin Arm’s co-founders Shaleen and Shilpi Shah were about to sit
down for the family dinner when they received an unexpected phone call.
It was a desperate plea from a volunteer who trekked all the way from
California to Colorado on a critical rescue mission. The volunteer notified
the Shahs that a chicken farm in LaSalle, Colorado had recently gone
bankrupt.
When the call came in to rescue the LaSalle flock, the numbers rolling in
were staggering. Nearly 36,000 innocent chicks and adult chickens were
suffering and starving on the farm—Valentine being one of them.
The Shahs and Luvin Arms staff knew they had to help these chickens.
A Rescue Mission of Unprecedented Scale
Since a rescue of this magnitude was first for the Shahs and those at Luvin
Arms, they strategically planned out their mission.
One team of staff and volunteers ran around preparing numerous supplies
needed for the rescued animals. They transformed the Luvin Arms facilities
into makeshift shelters in order to temporarily house a large number of
incoming chickens.
They rented several vans to rescue the chickens and converted one of the
barns into a shelter. The visitor center turned into a makeshift ICU for
those in more critical condition.
Punctured Wounds and Missing Limbs - The True Face of “Humanely
Raised Chicken” Farms
Another team led by Shaleen Shah, Luvin Arms staff, and volunteers traveled
to the farm where they believed they would rescue around 210 chickens.
To their utter shock, that number would soon soar into the HUNDREDS.
The rescuers and staff entered the farm to witness a grim site - an
unsightly paradox to the farm’s benevolent message. Thousands of chicks were
found living in deplorable conditions - likely never seeing the light of
day.
They were tightly packed together on top of one another and covered in
layers of their own feces. While some of the chickens were found
frostbitten, others had puncture wounds and missing limbs.
Unfortunately, there were already chickens who had passed away upon their
arrival.
Some starving chicks resorted to cannibalism of the ill and deceased - a
behavior that is uncommon for chickens and was likely done out of means of
survival.
If the scene itself wasn’t ghastly enough, what was happening on one side of
the barn stunned the rescuers. While Shaleen, staff, and volunteers were so
eagerly saving as many chickens as possible on one side of the barn, the
farmers were in the back of the barn simultaneously slaughtering chickens,
later claiming that they were “putting them out of their misery.”
Shilpi summarizes her experience of the rescue: "The whole rescue wasn’t
just the rescue itself. It was not a one-day rescue. It was a multiple-day
transport effort with many volunteers involved."
While Valentine’s story ended with a loving home, we continue to live in a
world where chicken farming and agriculture are carried out on a mass
industrial scale. Downplaying the detrimental impact it has on the animals
and the environment.
We could save only 600 of those sentient beings. And we feel sad about those
who couldn’t make it.
The truth is - we need more people to hear this story. We want more hearts
to connect with compassion. And all this is possible with your support.
Please forward this message to as many people as possible and help spread
this word.
False Portrayal & Empty Words - When Will this End?
The food industry feeds consumers with a common fable to pair with their
meat— that farming animals for their flesh is justified when it is carried
out in “a humane fashion.”
We walk through the aisles of our local supermarkets and pass by packages of
meat with bold letters reading “free- range chicken” or “humanely raised
chickens.”
Now passing down the aisles we are reminded of those false photos and those
empty words.
Valentine and all of the chickens remind us all of their irrefutable
suffering and exploitation at the expense of the animal farming industry.
Valentine - Mini, Yet Mighty Lady With a Full Heart
When will this hypocrisy end?
Number of animals killed in the world by the fishing, meat, dairy and egg industries, since you opened this webpage.
0 marine animals
0 chickens
0 ducks
0 pigs
0 rabbits
0 turkeys
0 geese
0 sheep
0 goats
0 cows / calves
0 rodents
0 pigeons/other birds
0 buffaloes
0 dogs
0 cats
0 horses
0 donkeys and mules
0 camels / camelids