Chicken farm investigated

THE Balearic Islands gov ‐ernment is investigating a poultry farm in Llucmajor following ongoing com ‐plaints about terrible smells and atmospheric pollution.

Residents near the farm have staged several protests about the bad smells and emissions since the problem started in 2019.

Finally, a group of 9,000 affected residents filed an official complaint with the regional authorities, trig ‐gering an investigation by

Proverb

the Govern.

The first discovery is that the owners of the farm do not have the ‘inte‐grated environmental au‐thorisation’, an obligatory permit for installations with more than 40,000 chickens ‐ the farm in question nearly triples that number with an esti ‐mated 117,700 laying hens on the premises.

As a result, the regional Environment department has launched disciplinary proceedings against the farm owners, although the final penalty is not yet known as it depends on the severity of the of ‐fence.

In addition, the facilities would also require other special permits given that their size and activity pose a risk of atmospheric pol ‐lution.

Residents complain that the problem with the smells gets worse with the arrival of the heat and that many are suffering severe physical effects such as breathing problems, mi ‐graines and vomiting.