2 million chickens to be killed because there aren’t enough workers to kill them

Farms in Delaware and Maryland are preparing to humanely slaughter up to 2 million chickens, The Baltimore Sun reports.

The problem? In the coronavirus pandemic, there aren’t enough workers at processing plants to kill the chickens to turn them into meat, CNN reported.

The Delmarva Poultry Industry trade organization says more than 600 million chickens were processed by its members in 2019, The Washington Post reported.

“So any effect on chicken availability is very, very small,” said James Fisher, a spokesperson for the organization, according to the publication.

The chicken “depopulation,” as the organization calls it, will be conducted humanely under guidelines issued during avian flu outbreaks, The Baltimore Sun reported.

“If no action were taken, the birds would outgrow the capacity of the chicken house to hold them,” the association said, CNN reported.

But an organization called Save Delmarva Chickens has appealed to farmers to halt the chicken slaughter, Delaware State News reported.

The organization hopes to convince farmers to donate at least some of the chickens to a sanctuary instead of killing them, said Augustine Sosa, according to the publication.

“We were concerned that the chickens were still being talked about as commodities,” Sosa said, The Baltimore Sun reported. “Their lives are on the line. They’re the victims. They’re not infected. They are healthy. ... It’s about profit and losing money.”

The Maryland Department of Agriculture says it is monitoring the situation but is not directly involved since the slaughter involves private business decisions, not health concerns, CNN reported.

The Delmarva Poultry Industry association has 1,800 members in Delaware and on the Maryland and Virginia Eastern Shore, The Washington Post reported.

This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 12:16 PM with the headline "2 million chickens to be killed because there aren’t enough workers to kill them."