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> 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.
that happens. Be born yellow, get minced alive.
It should be illegal, but isn't.
males too.
I won't support an industry that minces male chicks alive. In case anyone
thinks it doesn't happen, it does.
ones alive into the mincer. I'd rather be unemployed. I could not do it if
you paid me a very lot of money to do it.
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