Photo: NSPCA
However, Daybreak Foods has responded by stating it has no knowledge of such charges.
In a statement to Farmer’s Weekly, a company spokesperson said: “Daybreak Food’s new board appointed in May 2025 is not aware of any criminal charges laid against the company.
The company’s legal representative will continue to engage the NSPCA on the implementation of the court ruling and establish the veracity of any charge laid against the company.
“As such, the Daybreak Food’s board will assess the merits of any alleged contravention or charge, if or when these arise, and will respond accordingly, based on proper legal advice. The board of Daybreak Foods, working with the Business Rescue Practitioner, is committed to restore business operations and bring stability to the company while a turnaround strategy is being urgently finalised.”
According to the NSPCA, extensive on-site investigations revealed “overwhelming evidence of gross negligence, systemic mismanagement, and a complete abdication of responsibility by Daybreak’s leadership”.
“These failures were not only inhumane but criminal in nature, prompting the NSPCA to take legal action. We will now work closely with the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority to pursue justice on behalf of the animals that suffered,” the NSPCA said in a statement.
According to the NSPCA, the charges follow a damning ruling from the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Johannesburg, handed down on 23 May, which confirmed an interim order as final.
The court stated: “The urgency was necessitated by the collapse of Daybreak’s responsibility to appropriately care for the chickens in their possession and under their control,” citing “financial mismanagement of the available funds” by the company’s leadership.
The High Court order compels Daybreak to cease inhumane culling methods, ensure proper nutrition for all animals, and halt chick placements until the NSPCA is satisfied that the birds can be properly cared for, provide the NSPCA with a resolution plan, allow full access to facilities by the NSPCA, and cover the NSPCA’s legal costs.
The NSPCA has described the situation at Daybreak Farms as one of the worst mass welfare violations in South African history.
Scenes of birds mutilating each other due to stress, living with untreated wounds, and being too weak to move, exposed by the NSPCA, have sparked outrage both locally and internationally.
Senior Inspector Nazareth Appalsamy, manager of the NSPCA’s Farm Animal Protection Unit, said: “The law compels us to value every single animal individually. To witness the suffering of one animal multiplied by a million is not just a disaster – it’s a grave and morally reprehensible failure.”
The crisis has also financially impacted the NSPCA, which has already spent more than R580 000 on operational costs while responding to the Daybreak situation.
“Despite the High Court awarding legal costs in our favour, our ability to recover those funds is uncertain,” the NSPCA said. “Daybreak Farms has since placed itself into voluntary business rescue, a move that raises serious concerns about financial accountability and our ability to recoup the court-ordered costs.”
The NSPCA is now calling on the public and private sectors to assist in continuing its fight for justice and ongoing animal care.
“We urgently appeal for support to continue seeking justice and care for the surviving animals,” the organisation said.
