Farmers Put Live Chickens in Wood Chippers (what the cluck?)

Reuters ^

[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.

[thinktwice]

Chopped chicken?

I've raised chickens for family food, and this method is better than having a chicken running around headless -- 30 to 40 seconds -- before dropping dead.

[RightOnline]

"Is that your eggspert opinion ?"

Oh groan....................gonna have to cry "fowl" on you for that.

[HeadOn]

I don't know how cruel it was - have you ever seen one of those things operate? Some can take a 6-foot limb the size of your arm and produce a pile of chips in less than a second. It would be over in milliseconds for a chicken.

Having said that - it still seems pretty gruesome.

[breakem]

McNuggets

[Kevin Curry]

Next time just haul them out to the Mojave Desert and set them loose. The hawks, eagles, buzzards, coyotes, and ants will make short work of them.

[antaresequity]

Thats horrible...

If I was a chicken I would mush prefer having my head chopped off or my neck broken....

We have really sunk now...

[kstewskis]

They didn't show the chickens the movie "CHICKEN RUN" with Mel Gibson?

Where was "The Lone Free Ranger" when they needed him?

[areafiftyone]

Yea but I would rather clean up wood chips than chicken blood and guts from 30,000 chickens! This is too gory and bloody!

[Freedom2specul8]

I support what's best.. I'm was just wondering if there was an easier or cleaner way.. but due to the vast numbers of chickens.. (30,000) guess not. Maybe the wood chipper is the easiest. Sounds like saddam's torture chamber to me though. Iiickk

[Liberal Classic]

Doing so would spread that poultry virus to hawks, eagles, and buzzards.

[Gman]

MMmmmm....Chicken Smoothies!

[Freedom2specul8]

" This is too gory and bloody!"

Indeed!

[HeadOn]

I'm with you.

[cherry]

I am no animal protectionist but this is the preposterous.....

we are supposed to be good stewards.....

this was pure torture...

[Freedom2specul8]

BARF!

LOL

[Dallas]

Yep, choking 30,000 chickens would be a new world record.

[dead]

I don't know that a wood chipper would be exceedingly cruel. I imagine death would be absolutely instantaneous, faster and less painful than shooting them.

Had to be an absolutely disgusting mess though.

[Hacksaw]

Actually, they probably died very quickly.

[freeper12]

Sounds gross to me too, but seriously, death would come pretty darn quickly in a big chipper. They weren't really going to give them all IV drugs that put them to sleep were they?

Cutting a head off and letting them run around for 30 seconds is probably a lot worse.

There was a guy out here by me a few years ago that put his wife thru one of these and shot the output into the connecticut river...I am pretty sure they put him away anyway with forensic evidence...now that is gross.

[Freedom2specul8]

I was thinking there's got to be a better way..but maybe not! ;-\