Tell the USPS to Stop Treating Animals Like Cargo

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Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site

Trapped for days without food or water, thousands of baby chicks died alone—now it’s up to us to stop this cruelty from ever happening again.

Tell the USPS to Stop Treating Animals Like Cargo

More than 12,000 baby chicks were loaded onto a USPS truck in Pennsylvania, headed for farms across the country. They never arrived. Instead, they were abandoned inside a sealed delivery truck in Delaware for three days—without food, water, or ventilation. By the time the truck was opened, over 4,000 were already dead1.

A Small Shelter Left to Pick Up the Pieces

The survivors—about 10,000 birds—were rushed to a small animal shelter in Camden, Delaware, that had no warning and no capacity for a crisis of this scale. The shelter’s staff worked around the clock, spending their own money to keep the chicks alive. Hundreds of birds died in the following days. Thousands remain2.

USPS and the Hatchery Still Offer No Answers

The hatchery responsible for the shipment says USPS never gave them an explanation for why the chicks weren’t delivered. They believe the Postal Service should have completed the route, even after delays, because the recipients were prepared to care for the birds—even those in distress3.

Instead, the shipment was redirected and dumped on a local shelter, without consent or compensation. Shelter leaders say the only help offered by the Delaware Department of Agriculture was a promise to seek reimbursement from USPS after the fact—leaving them with the bill, the birds, and the trauma4.

This Cannot Be Allowed to Happen Again

These baby chicks were not boxes. They were living beings with beating hearts. They suffered and died behind locked truck doors because no one acted in time. This cannot happen again.

It's Time to Demand Change

The rules for shipping live animals must be rewritten. There must be clear standards, transparent communication, and emergency response protocols. The USPS and the Delaware Department of Agriculture must take responsibility and prevent another disaster like this.

Help us call for humane reforms. Sign the petition now and urge decision-makers to overhaul the rules that led to this tragedy—and ensure no animal is ever left to die in silence again.

More on this issue:

  1. Mingson Lau, AP News (19 May 2025), "Shipment of thousands of chicks found abandoned in USPS truck now overwhelming an animal shelter."
  2. CBS/AP, CBS News (19 May 2025), "Shipment of thousands of chicks left in USPS truck overwhelms shelter."
  3. Sara Ruberg, The New York Times (19 May 2025), "Thousands of Chicks Left in Postal Service Truck Overwhelm a Delaware Shelter."
  4. Associated Press, The Hartford Courant (19 May 2025), "Shipment of thousands of chicks found abandoned in USPS truck now overwhelming an animal shelter."

The Petition

To the Board of Governors and Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service, and the Secretary of the Delaware Department of Agriculture,

We, the undersigned, are outraged and heartbroken by the recent tragedy in which more than 12,000 baby chicks were abandoned in a USPS truck for days—left without food, water, or ventilation—resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent animals.

This preventable disaster reflects a complete failure in the systems and safeguards meant to protect living beings in transit. No package—no matter how routine—should result in such massive loss of life.

We call for an immediate overhaul of the policies and protocols governing the transport of live animals through the United States Postal Service. We also urge the Delaware Department of Agriculture to develop and enforce emergency response standards to protect animals when shipments go wrong.

This is not only about logistics. It is about compassion and basic decency. These chicks were not disposable cargo. They were living creatures who suffered needlessly because no one took responsibility when the system failed.

We ask for clear accountability, enforceable standards, and transparent reform to ensure this never happens again.

By taking action now, you can ensure a better future—one where responsibility and humanity take priority over convenience, and no animal suffers in silence behind locked doors.

Sincerely,