Ground Up Alive: Baby Chicks Suffer

The non-profit organization Mercy for Animals has recently released a video shot at an Iowa egg hatchery showing workers killing unwanted male chicks by placing them in a grinder while still alive. The shocking footage is now spreading quickly around the internet along with calls for the company in question, Hy-Line, to reform its practices. Male chicks are routinely discarded because they don’t produce eggs and don’t grow large enough or quickly enough to be sold for meat. While there is nothing illegal about killing chicks in this way, the footage also contains images of chicks slipping through the grinder and dying slowly on the factory floor, which is a violation of corporate and industry ethical standards.

According to the AP, Mitch Head, the spokesperson for the United Egg Producers responded to the video by saying, “There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens.” He continued, “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.”

The chicken processor, Hy-Line on its website says it produces about 30,000,000 chicks a year, and by that count, it would mean that it also kills about 30,000,000 male chicks a year as well.

Undercover footage: Warning: Graphic Images. Not for the squeamish or children.

This is not the first time that undercover footage has lead to calls for change in the food industry. The Hallmark/Westland meat recall, the largest in US history, was touched off by footage shot by a Human Society volunteer who took a job at the slaughterhouse. These videos point to the rapid change towards transparency that is being forced upon businesses. Companies that expect that they can operate behind closed doors in a way that would offend the sensibilities or ethical standards of the public are being forced to change. But will consumers be willing to pay more, or spend more time, for food that is not produced in an industrial fashion?

Adam Werbach is the author of Strategy for Sustainability TWITTER: @adamwerbach

Although we may not be able to stop these shocking practices today, we can pressure a large player in the chicken meat industry, McDonalds, to adopt more humane methods for slaughter. Click to sign the petition letter.

istockphoto
by Adam Werbach

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Rooibos B.

7:47PM PST on Dec 23, 2011

Melissa, and this is precisely why we are obligated, as people of conscience, to point out that "doing business" NEVER, EVER trumps morality and ethics, regardless of anything. If it's cruel, abusive and painful, it shouldn't be happening, period.

The conditioning of children to be insensitive towards other humans and all animals and carefully cloaking the truth about where "food" comes from is how these liars can perpetuate their horrible practices. If all children were made to see and meet the animal they were about to consume, it would stop tomorrow.

send a green star

Melissa H.

11:29AM PST on Dec 23, 2011

I'm ashamed to admit it, but these types of practices are very common in all areas of the chicken processing. Arkansas has a large chicken processing industry, and it cruelty is considered to be just a part of doing business. From the time these birds are delivered in overcrowded trucks to overcrowded chicken houses, life is short and brutal. And children are taught that this is just an unpleasant part of a necessary job.

Elize L.

3:53AM PST on Dec 20, 2011

Man's cruelty have no end. Shame on you.

Janis J.

5:25PM PST on Dec 19, 2011

this is just plain cruelty!!! Im shocked

Roger B.

8:47AM PST on Dec 19, 2011

The level to which humanity can sink is staggering. I wonder how many people are aware that this happens, and on such a scale.

Sonny H.

6:00AM PST on Nov 28, 2011

So tragic way to die.

Donna P.

5:38PM PST on Nov 22, 2011

I cannot bear to watch this one either.....People are NOT HUMANS who engage in this atrocity.

Brenda T.

12:55PM PST on Nov 22, 2011

I can't bear to watch this video!

Gale T.

12:04PM PDT on Apr 27, 2011

This is so sick! How can these people work there? May God have mercy on their souls. Because this is the worst thing I have seen.

Leann M.

10:25PM PDT on Apr 26, 2011

I couldn't even attempt to watch that video. Just reading about it made me cry. I am sharing this, because most people are not aware of exactly how their eating habits, condone this type of action. I am still shocked, everyday, at the horrors mankind will instill on his beloved animals. So very heartbreaking.