Chicks in the Mail

It looked like any other postal package, only it breathed. In California a whistleblower in the postal service reported opening a set of stinking boxes to find dying chickens inside. “They are crammed into these boxes,” she recalled, “and the live ones are climbing over the dead and dying ones and cheeping when we get them.”

This Easter, the live-chicken trade will reach its peak, and it will pass right through the innocuous looking U.S. Postal Office on Mount Auburn Street in Harvard Square. There, as at most U.S. postal offices, live baby chickens can be sent through the mail.

Minimal regulations stipulate that birds be put in ventilated boxes and be delivered within 72 hours. But that’s really all they require—senders needn’t provide food, water, or any other amenities for their living cargoes.

Packed onto the “FedEx Lives” service, baby chickens will be sent across the nation to serve as egg layers and novelty pets this Easter. An online search revealed dozens of online vendors where I could purchase baby chicks for one to two dollars a bird, plus 25 cents postage and packaging.

No one bothers keeping figures, but poultry industry estimates suggest that millions of birds will be posted this year. McMurray Hatchery in Iowa alone packs 200,000 chicks a week during Easter.

And, trapped in tiny postal packages, many birds will be crushed or suffocated in transportation. Most websites promised to pack extra chicks to account for the inevitable fatalities in the two to three days of transit. Premium sites even offered to insure my cargo against the off-chance that all birds show up dead.

One might think that, in such circumstances, the birds’ senders would seek to mitigate harms. Instead, Bird Shippers of America, the industry group, employs a lobbyist in Washington to push for the repeal of the few restrictions that still exist on this trade in sentient beings.

In 2001, Congress acquiesced, passing a law that forced airlines—many of whom had previously refused to partake in this gory trade—to transport baby chicks. And, in 2005, Federal Express—the last big holdout—was similarly pressured into carting the animals.

More recently, Bird Shippers of America launched a campaign against airlines that had qualms about shipping birds in the extreme heat or cold. In 2006, in a petition to Congress, the group noted with outrage that some airlines “refused shipments of day-old chicks when temperatures reach 85 degrees” and called for an end to this impediment, citing “the right to ship live birds.”

The U.S. Postal Service duly obliged, mandating that all air carriers accept chicks when outside temperatures are between zero and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Shortly thereafter, a Minnesota postal worker reported disposing of boxes of birds that had perished in 95-degree heat.

The public-health risks of this trade are manifest. The outbreak of avian influenza in Southeast Asia in 2003 was accelerated by the transport of chickens between farms—the crowded and unsanitary conditions of transport, coupled with the weak immune systems of hungry birds, furthered disease transmission. SARS and Exotic Newcastle Disease spread through similar processes.

Yet the real victims are the birds themselves. Chickens are complex animals, capable of communicating a wealth of information through 24 distinct cries. Dr. Joy Mench, professor of animal science at UC Davis, notes, “Chickens show sophisticated social behavior… They can recognize more than a hundred other chickens and remember them.” Dr. Chris Evans of Macquarie University adds that chickens can understand that a hidden object continues to exist—a comprehension beyond the ability of small children.

Crammed into tiny boxes, chickens exhibit few of these remarkable abilities. Instead, they endure three days of extreme confinement, deprivation, and stress. And, for some, this is their final voyage. One report suggested that in 2005 more birds arrived at their destination dead than alive.

Congress should act to prevent this abuse, using its right to regulate interstate commerce to stop the inhumane transport of animals. Students can avoid buying live chickens, or perhaps even the eggs they produce, this Easter. And the U.S. Postal Service should end the live chicken trade—a postal box is no place for a sentient being.


Lewis E. Bollard ’09 is a social studies concentrator in Kirkland House. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.