Male chicks:it's time to put an end to their killing across Europe

In the summer of 2022, Italy announced a stop to the selective killing of male chicks.It's time for the ban to extend to all of Europe.

In the egg industry i male chicks they are considered waste because they are incapable of producing eggs and unsuitable to be raised for their meat.For this reason, over 300 million of these puppies are killed every year in Europe. Animal Equality, and 18 other European animal protection organizations, gathered in the European Parliament to ask that the ban on the slaughter of male chicks be imposed at European level during the revision of the Animal Welfare Legislation scheduled for 2023.

The organizations' request is also supported by several MEPs such as Niels Fuglsang (S&D, Denmark), Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/Efa, Portugal), Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP, Finland) e Michal Wiezik (Renew, Slovakia), as well as animal welfare experts.

Male chicks in Italy

“The ban on chick slaughter was a historic turning point in Italy which must now be extended to the entire European Union.Animals are sentient beings and can no longer be considered simply industrial waste.European institutions must engage in new legislation and support the progressive implementation of technologies capable of putting an end to this cruel and systematic slaughter.” he claims Matteo Cupi, vice-president of Animal Equality Europe.

Last summer, the Italian Parliament voted in favor of an amendment to permanently ban the killing of male chicks and pledged to encourage the introduction of in-ovo sexing technologies which will allow us to spare the lives of millions of male chicks in our country.

Before reaching this historic goal, a long process of work was necessary raising awareness among citizens and also of dialogue with companies and industry which led to the collection of over one hundred thousand signatures and the commitment to introduce these technologies before Cooper, the largest supermarket chain in several countries, then of Assoavi, the trade association of egg producers.

Italy is not the only country where the cruel practice of killing male chicks is banned, either Germany, France, Austria And Luxembourg have decided to put an end to this cruelty:Last October, Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides announced that the European Commission would present a proposal to end the "worrying" systematic practice of killing male chicks across the EU.

It will not be an easy battle, those who are against the ban on the practice in fact use the increase in prices and inflation to ask for this step forward to be slowed down and in February 2022 during the vote on the implementation report on animal welfare on farms, the European Parliament rejected an amendment in favor of banning the killing of chicks.

The success of the campaign conducted by Animal Equality in Italy, however, demonstrates that change is possible:now we must continue to monitor to ensure that the rule in Italy is implemented smoothly and that the 2026 deadline is respected, but above all to ensure that what we have achieved in Italy becomes reality throughout Europe.