AN animal welfare activist group staged a protest outside a Co-op store in the city over the weekend. 

The protest took place on Saturday (August 31) afternoon outside the Co-op on Walton Street in Jericho.

The protest was part of a campaign by The Humane League, which is a charity and campaign group "calling on Co-op and supermarkets across the UK to end the sale of ‘Frankenchickens’".

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The charity says that Frankenchickens are fast-growing breeds of chicken, raised for meat, who suffer from "agonising health conditions" as a result of their rapid growth.

In July, the group staged a protest outside the Lidl at Templars Shopping Park, encouraging shoppers to sign their petition which demanded Lidl to adopt animal welfare policy, the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC).

The protest outside Co-Op The protest outside Co-Op (Image: The Humane League) A spokesperson for The Humane League said: "Co-op, a so-called ‘ethical’ retailer should stop selling cruelty.

"The protestors interviewed shoppers outside of the store in Jericho on Saturday afternoon, all of whom were shocked and horrified at what is going on behind closed doors.

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"It is clear that customers do not want Frankenchickens. Yet Co-op continues to sell these poor birds.

The spokesperson added: "Let’s tell the executives that the public won’t stand for this. Animals deserve better and so do customers."

A spokesperson from Co-op said: “Animal welfare is extremely important to us and we ensure all the animals in our supply chain are looked after.

"All Co-op fresh Chicken is 100 per cent British, is bred at 30kg/m2 which gives the chickens 20 per cent more space and it meets or exceeds Red Tractor standards, and this continues to place us at the forefront of Chicken welfare, which is where our member-owners, colleagues and customers expect us to be.”