The plight of the coloured chicks in plastic bags … Mail Online
See shocking video of dyed chicks
A shocked tourist came to Featureworld after stumbling on live chicks in plastic bags being sold as TOYS to children.
The tiny chicks, dyed in various bright colours, were spotted on the back of a truck by the holidaymaker visiting the Thai island Koh Lanta last week.
She was strolling along the beach with her partner when they first glimpsed a lone bright pink chick hopping about on the hot sand.
‘At first I couldn’t work out how the chick had got there,” she said, “but then the pink bird hopped onto the back of a nearby dusty truck.”
What she saw next shocked her.
‘Tossed into the back of it were plastic bags full of little chicks. They were all dyed in different colours. Some were pink, others bright yellow and green.
‘The original pink chick seemed to lead us over to them where he tweeted to us. Meanwhile the other little chicks inside the bags tweeted back. A few pecked to try and escape but the plastic bags were tied.
‘It was around 35 degrees and the poor little chicks must have been incredibly hot. They looked as if they could hardly breathe. We tried to untie one of the bags to give them some air. It was heartbreaking.’
She believes the chicks – which were packaged like goldfish from a funfair – were brought to the beach to sell as cheap toys for children.
‘There were signs of empty plastic bags littered in the truck. It seems the little pink bird had been bought and then abandoned on the beach like a used toy.
As she and her partner secretly took some video footage a group of children appeared.
‘They were looking at us strangely as if they were angry about what we were doing.’
Before the couple had chance to say anything, one of the children grabbed the lone pink chick.
‘He roughly put it back into a bag before throwing it into the back of the truck with the others.
‘The next minute we heard the truck engine start up. The children clambered into the back and the truck shot off into the distance.’
She added: ‘It was a very upsetting experience. The chicks had no water and no food. We haven’t stopped worrying about their fate since.”
Thailand has a long reputation of cruelty to animals.
In January this year singer activists hit out at singer Beyonce after she posed for a picture with a baby tiger in Thailand. It is claimed the tiny tigers are chained up, locked in cages and taken from their mothers.
And in October last year (2014) Ricky Gervais and Dame Judi Dench joined stars from Downton Abbey to campaign to an end of the brutal Thai practice of skinning dogs alive for their meat.
Meanwhile, in April more than 50,000 signed a petition to have baby elephant Nadia freed after photos emerged of her tied to a pole a and forced to perform tricks for tourists in Thailand.
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