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.

[Frapster]

For those who think this is such a bad thing, please, offer an alternative.

[ThinkingMan]

How many chicks would a wood chipper chip if a wood chipper could chip chicks?

Now THAT was funny!

[NathanR]

this was pure torture...

These were chickens, not people. I don't see this was any more cruel than the wholesale slaughter of chickens for food. It was over in less than a second.

[pdunkin]

MMmmmm....Chicken Smoothies

LOL

I have a few chickens of my own and think that the woodchipper was a little extreme but what a funny a$$ comment. I wish I had thought of it.

[Crusher138]

My two cents...

If anyone here can come up with some OTHER way of killing 30,000 chickens in a way that is:

1. Humane
2. Cost effective
3. In compliance with current health code

I would be glad to hear it.

I think that they did the best they could in an otherwise unworkable situation.

[gridlock]

I'll bet lobsters would kill to die this humanely.

Oh! They would fight if they could. Remember this classic?

Just Wait 'Til I Get These ***** Rubber Bands Off!

[Spiff]

Sheesh! What do they want? It may not be pretty, but this is instantaneous, humane death for the spent chickens. Would they prefer lethal injection!? A chicken retirement home?

[e_engineer]

I can't think of a more cumbersome, cruel and messy way to dispose of chickens. How bizarre. I hope they find another business to be in. I would suggest a line of work that does not involve anything with a heartbeat.

Just out of curiosity, how would you have done it?

[Liberal Classic]

Skeet?

[HairOfTheDog]

I honestly don't know. I have never had the problem of 30,000 unwanted chickens.

[mhking]

Parts is parts....

"Hold muh beer 'n watch this!" PING....

If you want on or off this list, please let me know!

[Spiff]

I DON'T RECALL THE HUMANE SOCIETY SAYING ANYTHING ABOUT SADDAM HUSSEIN FEEDING HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS THROUGH WOOD CHIPPERS OR SHREDDERS.

Or the Three Thousand innocent children pureed in their mother's womb and sucked into a sink EVERY DAY in the U.S...

[CyberAnt]

These people think feeding live chickens into wood chippers is barbaric - however they think it was okay for Saddam's regime to do it TO PEOPLE ...?? I'm struggling to see the logic of this.

[socal_parrot]

What are they going to do with all of that chicken?

[k2blader]

[catpuppy]

This is nothing to crow about

[Poohbah]

Oh, man...

This is just revolting if it's true. Hope they don't graduate to people.

S**t, they just lost a hiring opportunity with the Iraqi Ministry of Internal Affairs.

[AndrewC]

Geeze louise..there was no other way?

Do you propose a gurney and drip for 30,000 chickens? Perhaps a blindfold, a cigarette and a bullet for each?

[dalereed]

If I remember the story in the local fish wrap a couple of months ago, the mexicans that were doing the killing (no doubt illegals) came up with it because their arms were getting tired killing the "old fashioned" way.

Seems quick and efficient to me!

[dead]

I never read that before. It was funny as hell!

That lobster kinda reminded me of France. All talk, no walk.