GAS ATTACK ON HENS

Inangahua Times, 22 December 1931, Page 1

GAS ATTACK ON HENS

Thieves in Motor Cars Large numbers of farmers in the poultry farming districts of Nevendon near Basildon, near Southend, England, have suffered I extensively of late as a result of l thieves who employ motor cars in night raidson the hen roosts. Now nightly watches are being kept by some of the farmers in the hope of catching the raiders. Nevendon and Basilden are divided by the London-Southend arterial road which gives the thieves easy access to the poultry farming district. After a raid they load the poultry into vans and cars and drive back to town, where it is believed, the birds are sold in the markets in the early morning. In a recent raid it was discovered that gas had been used to make the birds unconscious. On another occasion a farmer’s dog, left to guard the property, had been chloroformed. Local farmers estimate their losses by theft during the past few months at hundreds of pounds.