'Stop the massacre of male chicks'
50 million new-born chickens each year are suffocated or ground to pieces by the poultry industry
POLITICIANS and animal rights activists are campaigning for France to put a stop to the widespread killing of male chicks - after an undercover video emerged of thousands of new-borns being shredded or suffocated in bin-bags.
It is estimated that 50 million spring chickens are killed each year, usually within minutes of hatching. Males are considered of no use to the poultry industry, since they do not lay eggs and their flesh is not suitable for meat.
One whistleblower, who worked in a hatchery in Brittany, recorded an undercover video for protection charity L214 Ethique et Animaux, in which he says he saw hundreds of thousands of chicks that had just hatched being sorted on conveyer belts.
He said: "Thousands of males - and other chicks that were malformed - were put through the shredder or left to suffocate in bin bags.
"I saw their distress - I was powerless. I want my video to be seen so that things can change."
L214 has teamed up with 36 French MPs and senators who have put their names to a parliamentary question to agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll.
Among those who have signed are Jean-Vincent Placé from Europe Ecologie-Les Verts, former minister Chantal Jouanno and 2012 presidential candidate Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.
They are calling for eggs to be screened early to determine the chick's gender - and take action before the creatures are born.
Germany's agricultural minister Christian Schmidt has already announced a ban on the massacre of male chicks in the country's hatcheries, due to begin in 2017.
Caution: Video contains images that viewers may find distressing
