Save Millions Of Chicks From A Needless Death
2,788 signatures toward our 50,000 Goal
Sponsor: The Animal Rescue Site
Millions of chicks will be killed this year because they can't lay eggs. Demand an end to this needless killing!
About 300 million chicks are killed in the United States every year, and nearly 7 billion around the world1, all because they were born male and seemingly unprofitable to egg producers.
Male chicks often cost more to feed and house than farmers can sell them for as meat. They are considered worthless, and for every new egg-laying hen born into today's factory farming system, a male chick is killed2.
Scientists in Germany have found a way to save these animals without hindering the profits of egg producers. Their patented egg test, "Seleggt," can determined the sex of an egg before it hatches3.
Any eggs with male hormones do not have to be further incubated at that point, and can be diverted to other products.
With technology and methods like Seleggt, It is possible to harvest eggs without needlessly killing billions of chicks every year. Anticipating other innovation in this field, France is the first country in the world with plans to phase out the culling of unwanted male chicks by 2021, and Germany is expected to follow4.
In the U.S., the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research hosts the Egg-Tech Prize, a contest to develop "technology that determines an egg's sex before it hatches1."
Along with reducing a great amount of suffering, this advantage would lead to advances in orthogonal fields like medicine. Over 6 billion male eggs could be used for food, animal feed, or vaccine production. This technology could further reduce the cost and carbon footprint, while increasing the energy efficiency of overall egg production1.
We have the technology. It's time the same humane practices adopted in France were followed in the United States. Sign the petition below and demand an end to the needless culling of male chicks!
- Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (2020), "Egg-Tech Prize."
- Chase Purdy, Quartz (24 December 2018), "Scientists developed a way to end the brutal practice of killing male chicks."
- RSPCA (30 July 2020), "What happens with male chicks in the egg industry?"
- BBC (13 June 2019), "German court rules mass-killing of male chicks legal."
The Petition:
To the United States Secretary of Agriculture,
The egg industry is furthering a cycle of suffering to the tune of 300 million lives a year. Day-old male chicks, deemed worthless to the industry, are slaughtered en masse because they are more expensive to house and feed than they will sell for as meat.
This inhumanity should not and does not have to continue.
One company in Germany has already patented a technology that tests the horomones in eggs to determine their sex before they hatch. This makes it possible to harvest eggs without the needless killing of billions of chicks every year.
Along with reducing a great amount of suffering, this advantage would lead to advances in orthogonal fields like medicine. Over 6 billion male eggs could be used for food, animal feed, or vaccine production. This technology could further reduce the cost and carbon footprint, while increasing the energy efficiency of overall egg production.
In the U.S., there are initiatives to find a similar solution, and several of them are already proving themselves effective. We have the technology to end the needless suffering of millions of chicks every year. It's time to put it in place and bring an end to the killing.
The people have spoken. We demand a ban on the needless culling of male chicks in the egg industry.
Sincerely,
