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.

[Freedom2specul8]

Geeze louise..there was no other way?

[socal_parrot]

This is will ruffle some feathers.

[princess leah]

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

[Freedom2specul8]

LOL

[PianoMan]

Need I mention that the mention of wood chippers is apropos?

[Liberal Classic]

I guess the Humane Society never saw Fargo.

[areafiftyone]

I am not an animal rights advocate but Man that was cruel!

[Diddle E. Squat]

I am wondering why the article did not give a time reference for when this took place, especially for when the permission was given?

[xusafflyer]

Lets see what the left thinks is worse:

Saddam throwing people in a plastic shredder

or

Farmers throwing chickens in a wood chipper due to health concerns

[The Dude Abides]

Is a woodchipper that much worse than what the Acme Chicken Company does on a daily basis? Good thing I'm not a pollo.

[Conan the Librarian]

"I don't want to be put in a pie....I don't like Gravy"

[tacticalogic]

Hillary's version of 'Chicken Soup for the Soul".

[HairOfTheDog]

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.

[Dallas]

Is that your eggspert opinion ?

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[Behind Liberal Lines]

This is so wrong on so many levels.

Like the man said, I'm no animal rights nut but some things go beyond the pale. Furthermore, if these animals were, in fact, inflected turning them into a stream of hazardous waste hardly seem an appropriate way to dispose of them.

I think, at the very least, some buereucrats need firing.

[Tony Niar Brain]

My God... one live anything in a wood-chipper seems excessive, but 30,000? What do you do with the terrible blood and gore messes left over? Is that supposed to help contain pathogens, by splattering them all over the place?

It's all very confusing.

[rdax]

Was that your friend there in the wood chipper? Ya know?

[N. Theknow]

Humane Society cries fowl.