Replies

These animals had a virus. I'm not sure a wood chipper is the best way to get rid of them. All that areosolized chicken? Not only is that dangerous in terms of germ spread, it must have been right nasty to watch. Blech.

The correct strategy for my money is pitch them directly into some kind of mobile furnace, or a tank of caustic chemical. Sounds awful, but chickens can carry viruses that can make the jump into people, and these are issues we need to think about.

>>>areosolized chicken

Hmmm, now you had to go and put logic in this thread! I was being a wiza gal playing on the PETA spin.

darn you...Ok. So is this a factor?

"The correct strategy for my money is pitch them directly into some kind of mobile furnace, or a tank of caustic chemical. Sounds awful, but chickens can carry viruses that can make the jump into people, and these are issues we need to think about. "

A large bonfire type situation probably would've been a good alternative. I would think that the people who did it probably were required to dispose of the remains properly afterward to ensure the virus didn't spread. In the previous article I read on this, the guys had talked it over with some sort of official-type-government employee beforehand to be sure it was OK to do. The animal rights activists just got their panties in a wad though after they heard about it.

Here is the previous article:
Farmers Put Live Chickens in Wood Chippers (what the cluck?)

Posted on 04/14/2003 2:44 PM EDT by Dallas
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
Two California poultry farmers who fed some 30,000 live chickens into wood chippers will not face criminal charges because they had permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture , prosecutors said on Friday.

But a spokesman for the Humane Society of the United States called the farmers "callous and barbaric" and disagreed with the decision not to prosecute them.

The farmers needed to destroy the chickens because they were "spent" -- or no longer able to produce eggs -- and could not make chicken soup out of them because the farms were under quarantine for the poultry virus Exotic Newcastle Disease, District Attorney's spokeswoman Gayle Stewart said.

Stewart said the men, who run a poultry farm near San Diego, asked a senior veterinarian with the Agriculture Department if they could employ the wood chippers and were given permission.

"Once they had permission we decided that they did not have any criminal intent," Stewart said.

Brothers Arie and Will Wilgenburg, who run Escondido-based Ward Poultry Farm, could not be reached for comment on Friday. Earlier, they told the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper that they were doing "what we thought we had to do" based on expert advice and stopped as soon as they learned otherwise.

Wayne Pacelle, a spokesman for the Humane Society, said that explanation was unacceptable.

"The act of feeding live chickens into a wood chipper is an extraordinarily callous and barbaric act and I can't imagine any person with a whit of common sense would use a wood chipper as a killing tool," he said. "No person with any experience in killing animals would sanction the use of this technique."

Pacelle said the District Attorney's decision not to prosecute the brothers rested on the "faulty assumption" that using wood chippers to kill chickens was an accepted practice.

These animals had a virus. I'm not sure a wood chipper is the best way to get rid of them. All that areosolized chicken? Not only is that dangerous in terms of germ spread, it must have been right nasty to watch. Blech.

Agreed. Very unhealthy for the persons feeding the animals into the chipper, and putting the virus airborne too, which could spread it to other animals in the vicinity.