Video shows egg-industry practice of grinding up live chicks


TEXT:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/09/video-shows-eggindustry-
practice-of-grinding-up-live-chicks.html


VIDEO: http://www.mercyforanimals.org/hatchery/

(Images taken from hidden video at a Hy-Line plant in Spencer, Iowa, 
show a worker tossing a male chick into a grinding chute, and chicks 
being corralled for sorting)


Sunday, September 6, 2009


An animal-rights group campaigning against eating eggs has released 
undercover video showing the standard hatchery practice of euthanizing 
unwanted male chicks by tossing them alive into a grinder.

An employee with Chicago-based Mercy For Animals shot the video over 
two weeks in May and June while working at a Hy-Line North America 
hatchery in Spencer, Iowa. The Associated Press obtained the video 
yesterday.

The video shows a hatchery worker sorting chirping chicks on a conveyor 
belt, flipping some into a chute "like a poker dealer flips cards," AP 
writes. The narrator says the chicks are male, and they are then seen 
falling, alive, into a grinding machine.

Other footage shows a chick that had fallen through a sorter dying on 
the factory floor, while another live chick is scaled by hot water.


"We have to ask ourselves, if these were puppies and kittens being 
dropped into grinders, would we find that acceptable?" Nathan Runkle, 
executive director of Mercy For Animals, said at a news conference 
today in Des Moines. "I don't think that most people would."

A company spokesman told the AP today that an investigation was 
continuing and that the company would release more information when 
it's done. The video "appears to show an inappropriate action and 
violation of our animal welfare policies," referring to the chicks on 
the factory floor.
Morechicks090109

Live male chicks are tossed into grinders because they are seen as 
having little value: they can't lay eggs or be raised quickly and 
cheaply enough to be profitable as meat.

Hy-Line, the nation's largest egg producer, said such "instantaneous 
euthanasia" is a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary 
and scientific community. A spokesman for the egg industry group United 
Egg Producers said that grinding "is the most instantaneous way to 
euthanize chicks."

“There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female 
hens,” UEP spokesman Mitch Head told AP. “If someone has a need for 200 
million male chicks, we’re happy to provide them to anyone who wants 
them. But we can find no market, no need.”

An official with the Humane Society of the United States said there are 
no federal regulations requiring humane euthanasia of animals on farms 
or at hatcheries.

“Virtually all egg farms, even those that sell cage-free eggs, get 
their hens from hatcheries that kill their male chicks.”

Hy-Line's animal-welfare policy reads, in part:

    "[W]e are committed to the humane and respectful treatment of each 
and every bird in our care. All of our employees are expected to be 
advocates for animal welfare. We have developed and implemented welfare 
policies that cover all aspects of bird management. Our employees and 
cooperators are specifically trained on the proper methods of handling 
birds to minimize distress or injury. ...

    "Our flocks are under the supervision of caring veterinarians, 
nutritionists and flock supervisors at all times. ...

The company asks the public to report "purposeful or willful neglect or 
abuse of our birds by employees or agents of Hy-Line."

Read the complete policy here.

As part of its bid to end egg consumption, Mercy For Animals wants to 
require that grocery chains post warnings on cartons telling consumers 
about the killing of live chicks.