Hundreds of Distressed Baby Chicks Sent By U.S. Mail Impounded at Oakland Airport

Oakland, CA – May 14, 2008 – Oakland Animal Services came to the aid of more than 500 day-old chicks taken into custody at Oakland Airport. The chicks were being transported by the United States Postal Service from a Santa Cruz hatchery to a destination in Washington State on Tuesday, May 13.

The Oakland Airport Postal Service discovered many sick and some dead chicks among the shipment of five boxes of 106 chicks each – or 530 total – and contacted Oakland Animal Services for assistance; 47 birds were found dead. The chicks were from Cal Cruz Hatchery in Santa Cruz and when reaching Oakland airport had already been traveling for over 24 hours before Oakland Animal Services impounded them.

Animal Place, which frequently works with animal control agencies to help find adoptive homes for farmed animals confiscated in cruelty cases, is working to help place the chicks. Because the rescued birds are “broilers”, or chickens raised for meat, they are bred for rapid growth so they can be slaughtered at six weeks of age.

“Shipping chicks through the postal service is common practice. It is a given that many will die in route, but the losses are expected and accepted by industry,” said Adam Parascandola, Oakland Animal Services director. “These poor chicks were less than a day old before their nightmarish journey began.”

“It should be illegal to transport any animal through the postal service, let alone day-old chicks,” said Kim Sturla, Animal Place director. “This is another example of treating farmed animals as commodities and not living creatures. If only people knew the suffering that went into their roasted chicken!”

It is legal to ship young birds through the mail, as long as they are under 24 hours old when presented for shipping, and delivered to the receiver within 72 hours. The practice of sending chicks through the postal service began over 100 years ago, when the first commercial hatchery in America sent 50 chicks from New Jersey to Illinois in 1892. Today, millions of chicks are shipped each year through the mail, without food or water or proper housing, and as a result, large numbers die before reaching their destination, while many more suffer unnecessarily. Animal advocates have long condemned the practice, and although the U.S. Postal Service has instituted modest policy changes, transport of live animals through the mail remains inhumane and results in countless deaths each year.

###

The Oakland Animal Services, a division of the Oakland Police Department, is responsible for the welfare of all animals in Oakland and for promoting the health and safety of animals and people in the community. The Oakland Animal Shelter handles over 11,000 animals per year. Additional information can be found at http://www.oaklandanimalservices.org or by calling 510-535-5602.

Animal Place, founded in 1989, is home to more than 300 cows, pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, rabbits and turkeys in Northern California. In addition to providing refuge to neglected farmed animals, Animal Place educates the public about factory farming through tours, tabling, legislation and outreach programs. More information can be found at http://www.animalplace.org or by calling 707-449-4814.