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In the poultry
industry, every egg is created equal — but not every
hatchling. While female chicks are prized, male chicks
are considered 'commercially useless' — after all, they won't
ever produce eggs, and they won't grow as big as hens so they
can't provide meat. So these poor male chicks, no more
than three days old, are shredded alive. It's called
mass culling, and it kills 4-8 billion male chicks every year.
During a cull, baby chicks are placed on a conveyor belt fully
awake and without anesthesia, helpless as it draws them closer
and closer to the mouth of a giant shredder. One by one, or in large waves, the babies fall
into the machine's gears which crush and rip at their little
bodies.
Chicken culling is obviously
disturbing and cruel. But those qualities are magnified by the
fact that it's totally unnecessary — there are ways of
testing an egg just nine days after fertilization to determine
what sex the chick will be. This test has been around for
years, so why is it the poultry industry still hatches chicks
just to brutally slaughter them hours or days later? It's
shocking that wherever the poultry industry is operating, this
grotesque practice is still allowed. Well, almost everywhere.
Germany recently announced that it will approve a law
banning the culling of male chicks for good! Let's
keep the momentum going in our fight for animal welfare in the
poultry industry! Sign the petition telling the European Union to
adopt similar legislation and pass a comprehensive ban on male
chick culling.
Thank you,
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Lauren
The Care2 Petitions Team
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P.S. The mass
culling of male chicks in the poultry industry is cruel and
unnecessary. Thankfully, Germany just banned it. Sign the petition and tell the EU to follow
suit. |
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