Help Stop the Cruel and Illegal Killing of Male Chicks 

An investigator from Anonymous for Animal Rights (now called Animals Now) visited major hatcheries and farms involved in the meat and egg industries.  

Workers were found using gruesome methods to kill male chicks (since they cannot lay eggs) and others considered worthless by the industry (like sick or weak chicks). Shortly after they hatched, workers callously tossed live chicks into rubbish bins, fires, or grinders or into ponds at fish farms to be eaten alive. These baby birds – who felt fear and pain, just as we do – never even got to meet their mothers, let alone experience love or sunlight.

Incubator problems caused some chicks to hatch with organ deformities and other health complications, and rough methods of determining chicks’ sex often caused them distress. Because hens peck each other out of frustration caused by the severe confinement of a battery cage, in which they cannot even spread a wing, workers cut off portions of newly hatched female chicks’ beaks with burning-hot blades.

It is illegal to kill any animal, other than for reasons permitted under the law, which includes killing an animal for food after stunning them to render them unconscious, euthanising a suffering animal when it would be cruel to keep such an animal alive, or euthanising animals for disease control purposes. The crude killing of male chicks is a cognisable offence punishable under Section 11(1)(l) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, along with Section 428 or 429 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. Further, causing unnecessary suffering to animals violates Section 3 and 11(1)(a) of the PCA Act, 1960.

Following an appeal from PETA India, the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh have issued orders against gruesome and illegal chick-killing practices. The Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Goa governments have additionally committed to adopting in ovo sex-determination technology, when it becomes commercially available- which would  identify eggs with male embryos at an early stage in their development, thereby helping to prevent their birth and altogether stopping the illegal killing of male chicks.

Please join us in requesting an end to the cruel killing of male chicks by signing the appeal below.

THE COMPILED SIGNATURES WILL BE DELIVERED TO THE CONCERNED STATE AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS

Appeal

Dear Officials:

Video evidence from Indian poultry hatcheries shows that unwanted male chicks (because they cannot lay eggs) are illegally killed using gruesome methods such as drowning, burning, and crushing. Such crude killing of chicks is a cognisable offence punishable under Section 11(1)(l) of The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960, along with Section 428 or 429 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 1860.

The governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh have issued orders directing the end of these gruesome and illegal chick-killing practices. Meanwhile, the governments of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Goa have additionally committed to adopting in ovo sex-determination technology as soon as it becomes commercially available. This would identify eggs with male embryos at an early stage in their development, thereby helping to prevent their birth and altogether stopping the illegal killing of male chicks.

In ovo sex-determination is a wonderful scientific breakthrough which has the power to end the illegal killing of male chicks by the egg industry. It is imperative for birds’ welfare for India to take advantage of this technology and prevent the killing of unwanted male chicks in the most grisly manner. France and Germany are among nations that have already taken steps to outlaw the mass killing of male chicks.

I therefore urge you to use your authority to safeguard male chicks from illegal, painful, and cruel deaths by taking the following action:

(a)Enforcing the existing laws – Section 11(1)(l) of the PCA Act, 1960, and Sections 428 or 429 of the IPC, 1860 – as per which the killing of male chicks is a punishable offence, against which a first information report must be registered

2. Making in ovo sexing technology commercially available either by importing the technology or by collaborating with the companies engaged in the said technology to develop an indigenous version

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[Name]

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