Hundreds of dead chickens were found along a series of roads in Adjala-Tosorontio.

The dead birds were discovered on Tuesday morning on Highway 89 and the 3rd Concession.

“I saw a big pile. I thought it was mulch. I thought it was mulch on the road,” says Teri Stewart. 

She was headed to a friend’s house when she came across the unbelievable sight.

“There was piles, and piles, and piles. As I started driving up the road I started smelling a stench. As I drove up the road almost to County Road 17, there was nothing but dead chickens.”

Stewart contacted the police, but has many unanswered questions. She wants to know how something like this could happen, and whether there is a risk to the environment.

“It was minutes and minutes of driving through this,” she says. “I was totally sickened by it.”

A spokesperson for the township says it’s believed the carcasses fell out of a large vehicle.

“There were piles upwards of a foot deep,” says John Kolb, supervisor of operations and maintenance. “It must have been a dump truck of some kind. We don’t know who it was or anything about the vehicle.”

Crews with the Ministry of Transportation and the township worked to clean up the mess through most of the morning.

The chicken carcasses were taken to the Simcoe County landfill for disposal.

Ontario Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture have been notified.