Fighter jets killed my chickens, says French farmer

 Paris: A French poultry farmer is suing his country's defence ministry after claiming that two low-flying fighter jets frightened almost 5,000 of his chickens to death.

Etienne Le Mahaute, from the village of Pleguien in Brittany, claims that the military aircraft caused a stampede in which 4,800 birds suffocated.

He said he was having lunch when two military aircraft shot over his farm. "We were in the house eating. When [the planes] passed overhead, we had vibrations in our backs it was so loud," he said.

He ran straight to the giant coops where the chickens were kept to find that they had rushed to the same side and lay lifeless in their thousands.

"The chickens were terrified. They were stacked up on top of each in several layers on the same side of the three buildings," he said. "If we hadn't been there, it could have been worse."

A vet who examined a batch of dead chickens confirmed they were all alive before the fly-past.

The farmer, who is in charge of 68,000 fowl belonging to a co-operative, is demanding up to 15,000 euros (Dh55,050) compensation.

Frederic Solano, a French air force official, confirmed that two jets flew past the farm on Tuesday at noon as part of a "scheduled flight at an altitude respecting current rules".

The defence ministry said its complaints department would look into the incident but it was cautious as to a link between the planes and the animals' death.

Last year, Britain's Ministry of Defence paid out £42,000 (Dh243,600) to a farmer whose chickens laid fewer eggs because they were frightened by the Red Arrows display team.