After years of protests from animal welfare activists, the French government has finally announced that they will stop the barbaric shredding and gassing of baby male chicks from the year 2022. In a new approach, they will now destroy eggs, not the hatchlings.
“2022 will be the year when shredding and gassing of male chicks ends in France,” Agricultural Minister Julien Denormandie proclaimed, saying the new law would prevent the killing of 50 million male chicks every year.
Every year, millions of baby male chicks are killed immediately after birth because they cannot ‘produce’ eggs and have less meat. The newborn babies are shredded in a macerator or gassed using carbon dioxide.
Years of campaigns by animal activists has finally shed light on a possible solution. Innovative technologies today can determine the gender of the baby chick before its born, so the egg can be destroyed before the baby is hatched.
Also Read: Egg Industry: A Reality Check on Inhumane Farm Practices and Ethical Options
Denormandie said that the French government will spend 10 million euros in subsidies to help hatcheries become equipped with the new sex determination technology.
With this announcement, France joins Germany, which made a commitment in January to stop culling male chicks by the year 2022. Switzerland too has already banned shredding live chicks but continues to gas them.
