DES MOINES, Iowa — An animal rights group publicized a video Tuesday showing unwanted chicks being tossed alive into a grinder at an Iowa plant.
The undercover video was shot by Chicago-based Mercy for Animals at the Hy-Line hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, over a two-week period in May and June.
The group said that tossing male chicks, which have little value because they can’t lay eggs or be raised quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, into grinders is common industry practice. United Egg Producers, a trade group for U.S. egg farmers, confirmed that. Mercy for Animals estimated 200 million male chicks are killed a year, which the producers’ group also confirmed.
The video, shot with a hidden camera by a Mercy for Animals employee who got a job at the plant, shows a Hy-Line worker sorting through a conveyor belt of chirping chicks, flipping some of them into a chute.
These chicks, which a narrator says are males, are then shown being dropped alive into a grinding machine.
In other parts of the video, a chick is shown dying on the factory floor amid a heap of egg shells after falling through a sorting machine. Another chick, also still alive, is seen lying on the floor after getting scalded by a wash cycle, according to the video narrator.
Hy-Line said the video “appears to show an inappropriate action and violation of our animal welfare policies,” referring to chicks on the factory floor. But the company also noted that “instantaneous euthanasia” — a reference to killing of male chicks by the grinder — is a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community.
Nathan Runkle, the group’s director, acknowledged that his group’s ultimate goal was to get people to stop eating eggs. He said he believe many would refuse to eat eggs if they knew what happened to male chicks.
Mercy for Animals also sent letters to the nation’s 50 largest grocery store chains, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Safeway, Harris Teeter and Trader Joe’s, asking them to include a label on egg cartons that says, “Warning: Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
