In the United States, a poultry trading company has had to euthanize more than two million chickens at two locations due to staff shortages caused by the coronavirus.
The chickens at the two sites were gassed “using approved, humane methods” according to the standards of the American Veterinary Medical Association. Because demand for chicken meat has all but vanished, the farms must continue feeding the chicks despite having no outlet. “If no action was taken, the birds would outgrow the capacity of the chicken coop to keep them any longer,” the company said.
The American egg producer Daybreak Foods has also euthanized over 60,000 chickens on at least one poultry farm because food giant Cargill no longer purchases their eggs as a raw material. In the US, all eateries, restaurants, school and workplace cafeterias, as well as food and hamburger outlets, have been closed due to the coronavirus crisis. This has caused demand for both chicken meat and liquid eggs to collapse, along with orders from food service providers – a fact Cargill cited when temporarily closing its liquid egg plant in Big Lake, Minnesota.
A contract egg farmer near Albany was informed one day that the chickens in his barn would be euthanized the next day, as was the case at four other egg farms. In the American poultry industry, chickens are typically owned by large breeding operations or egg companies, and the poultry farmer acts as a kind of tenant. When the chickens are culled, many affected poultry farmers lose their income entirely in an instant. They do not qualify for unemployment insurance and are now on waiting lists for federal aid and food banks.
A similar situation is threatening to develop in the American calf and pig industries. With more slaughterhouses closing due to staff shortages, the US pig industry lacks sufficient physical space to maintain a backup stock of live pigs. Some farms are so full that producers have started euthanizing their animals. These animals are then buried or burned.