The campaign to stop the slaughter of chicks and ducklings in Europe

A few days ago the turning point in Italy:the Senate has approved a stop to the slaughter of male chicks.Now the hope is that it will stop throughout the European Union.

• The Italian Senate has approved a stop to the killing of male chicks by 2026.
• After this victory, the situation in Europe must also change.
• Animal Equality launches the appeal together with 18 other European NGOs.

The Senate approved it stop the killing of male chicks in our country by 2026.A historical news for i animal rights which comes after a long work of political pressure with the institutions by Animal Equality and which will allow us to save from atrocious suffering between 25 and 40 million of chicks every year.

The cruel fate of male chicks

For every hen raised for egg production, one male chick is ground or gassed as soon as it is born, still alive and without stunning.Male chicks are in fact considered "waste" forpoultry industry, since they do not lay eggs and their meat has no economic value for the meat industry.

The amendment voted on e approved by the House in December 201 and now also in the Senate it foresees times for adaptation to the legislation for the updating of the working procedures and the technological state of the companies in the livestock breeding sector laying hens, on the other hand supporting the introduction and development of technologies and tools for sexing of embryos in-ovo capable of identifying the sex of the chick even before hatching, also through incentive policies for such technologies.

The situation in Europe

After the victory in the Senate, the situation in Europe must also change.In the European Union they are still killed every year 330 million male chicks just one day old.But these animals are not the only victims of the food industry.In the production of Foie gras tens of millions of female ducks suffer the same fate:the liver of female ducks, in fact, is less desirable for the production of foie gras and consequently foie gras producers breed and force-feed only male ducks.

Animal Equality has joined others 18 European NGOs for animal protection to call for an end to these cruel killings with a campaign urging European Union Agriculture Ministers to support a ban on the systematic killing of male chicks in the egg industry and female ducklings in the industry of foie gras throughout Europe.In Italy our appeal is addressed to the Minister of Agricultural Policies Stefano Patuanelli.

Italians are against the killing of chicks

According to a survey conducted by L214, the French organization promoting this campaign, e YouGov 2022, 78 percent of Italian citizens are in favor of a ban on killing chicks and ducklings and believe that alternative methods should be introduced - including for example in-ovo sexing technology - to completely avoid the killing of these animals.

The cruel killings of chicks and ducklings are currently permitted under European legislation, but could be banned under the review of European legislation on farmed "animal welfare", due in 2023-2025. Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, who has jurisdiction in the matter, stated that:“Killing large numbers of day-old chicks is, of course, an ethical issue.”

The appeal to the agriculture ministers

The European Commission will propose new legislation to better regulate practices related to animal husbandry, but the Council of the EU will decide on the adoption of the reform.It is therefore essential that all Agriculture Ministers of the 27 member states support this reform to ensure its adoption.

Animal Equality firmly supports the need to put an end to these cruel killings throughout Europe as it did in Italy with the campaign Stop massacre of male chicks and the petition calling on government and industry to put an end to this terrible situation.Thanks to this work, already in 2020 the trade association of egg producers Assoavi and the supermarket chain Coop had declared themselves in favor of the introduction of in-ovo sexing technologies capable of avoiding the culling of male chicks.