The owners of a chicken farm in Liaoning Province have received 80,000 yuan (US$9,600) in compensation after their chickens were frightened to death by noises coming from a nearby oil well, reports Liaoshen Evening News.

On February 14, an extremely loud noise sounding like an airplane engine firing up roared from the site of an oil well located 200 metres from a hen house owned by Wang Jinghui and his wife.

The 2,360 chickens were so frightened that they ran about in a panic, some breaking their necks or wings in the process. Many of them died soon after.

Twenty minutes after the noise died down, Wang found 180 chickens dead, while the rest produced less than half the usual amount of eggs in the days that followed. Most of the eggs were soft-shelled and deformed, no good for sale.

Wang demanded compensation of 240,000 yuan (US$30,000) from the Ciyu Oil Factory. The factory agreed to pay him 50,000 yuan (US$6,040), and the village government added another 30,000 yuan (US$3,625).

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