An animal charity has issued an emergency appeal after mounting a massive cross-border chicken rescue.
The Maggie Fleming Animal Hospice near Dundrennan saved 172 young cockerels from death – but now faces big bills caring for them.
The birds somehow made it past a hatchery inspection in Lancashire where all day-old male chicks are picked out and killed.
Kindly staff at a nearby rearing plant then granted the birds a reprieve – giving hospice boss Alexis Fleming time to collect them.
Alexis, 41, initially rescued 88 cockerels – then made four more trips to Lancashire to get the rest.
She told The News: “It must be one of the biggest cockerel rescues ever in the industry anywhere. They never survive long enough for anybody to do this. They are so rare in making it out alive.
“I am making a documentary film about them because normally these boys don’t live long enough to make a story.
“It’s called 88 in a Billion and I’m loving doing it. Hopefully it will bring more attention to them and this part of the world.
“A big thanks goes to everyone who has helped so far.”
Alexis estimated keeping the sanctuary going cost £100,000 a year – and the arrival of the cockerels meant a big hike in bills.
She said: “I’m going to have to find an extra £20,000 a year for vets’ bills, feed, medicines and a cockerel village to house them. It’s a massive undertaking.
“I feel pretty stretched just now but people have really rallied round. It’s just keeping the faith that it’s going to work out – and it will work out because it has to.
“It was supposed to be 35, then 50 but when I went and got them there were 88. They kept finding more and I have been down to Lancashire five times to get them all.”
She added: “If I had not done they would have got their necks wrung. Boys are completely useless to the industry.
“If you are a male chick you are condemned at birth and are macerated for bone meal or something.
“It’s a miracle – someone mis-sexed the cockerels so they made it to the factory.
“Then someone there cared and was allowed to help them and I happened to find out about them. The chances of these boys making it past that conveyor belt are billions to one.
Anyone wishing to can visit www.themaggiefleminganimalhospice.org.uk
