Document type: White Paper of the European Institute for Animal Law & Policy
Authors: Alice Di Concetto, Olivier Morice, Matthias Corion, Simão Santos
Preview: 6.5 billion day-old male chicks are killed worldwide every year1, including 330 million in the EU 2. It is estimated that another tens of million day-old female ducks are killed in foie gras production, mainly in the EU3. Day-old chicks and ducklings are killed because they have no economic value to the egg and foie gras industries: male chicks cannot lay eggs nor do they produce meat in sufficient quantity to be of economic value. Similarly, force-feeding female ducks does not produce livers of a sufficient weight and volume to be economically valuable.
Yet, alternatives exist to the mass killing of baby animals. "In ovo sexing" technologies can now detect the sex of a chicken or duck embryo before they hatch, which allows the section of viable eggs before the animals are born.
Considering the cruelty of chick culling, three EU countries, France, Germany, and Italy just recently prohibited this practice, and require the use of alternatives. The EU Legislature is also studying the possibility of imposing an EU ban on the killing of day-old chicks and ducklings.
