An animal rights group out of Chicago is giving PETA a run for their money in the shock-effect department, after they released an undercover video of male baby chicks being ground up alive. The animal advocacy group, Mercy for Animals, released the video that was shot in a hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, over a two-week period earlier this summer.
Male chicks are frequently tossed due to their low value in the egg industry - they can't lay eggs or be raised quickly enough to be profitable meat. United Egg Producers, a trade group for egg farmers, confirmed that grinders are one of the most common solutions for these unwanted baby chickens. It is estimated that over 200 million male chicks are ground up annually.
The video was shot by a Mercy for Animals employee who went undercover as a Hy-Line factory worker, whose responsibility was to sort through the baby chicks on a conveyor belt. The males were thrown - alive - down a chute to undoubtedly meet their unnecessary demise.
- "We have to ask ourselves if these were puppies and kittens being dropped into grinders, would we find that acceptable?" asked Nathan Runkle, the group's executive director, at a news conference in Des Moines. "I don't think that most people would."
Company representatives say that the video "appears to show an inappropriate action and violation of our animal welfare policies," referring to chicks on the factory floor, but notes that grinding is standard practice, supported by the scientific and veterinary community.
Mitch Head, spokesperson for the 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," Head said. "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."
Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel of the Humane Society of the United States, says that virtually all egg farms (even ones that sell cage-free eggs) buy their eggs from hatcheries such as this one. Lovvorn confirms there is no federal law that ensures the humane euthanasia of animals on farms or hatcheries.
So what is the point of this gruesome video? Mercy for Animals is hoping to convince consumers to just stop eating eggs, especially those from factory farms such as Hy-Line. "The egg industry is perhaps the cruelest industry on the face of the planet," they said.
Runkle asks, "is this justifiable for cheap eggs?" You tell us.
If you want to watch the gruesome video, click here.
via AP
