Mercy For Animals, a group that promotes vegetarianism and opposes cruelty to animals, may have released the iconic video to mobilize sentiment against the egg industry, a nearly four-minute collection of footage taken with a hidden camera by someone who infiltrated a Hy-Line egg plant in Iowa.
Here's the video, and a warning: It's disturbing.
The egg industry doesn't deny the practice of de-beaking and then grinding up "useless" newly born male chicks. In fact, the response from a Hy-Line exec was to the point: “There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens. If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we're happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need.”
The grinding, he said, is "instant euthanasia" and "the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks,” backed by the veterinary industry. He added that there'd be an investigation into the violations (i.e., the scalded chick and the one left to die on the floor).
The executive director for MFA, on the other hand, asked: "Is this justifiable just for cheap eggs? The entire industrial hatchery system subjects these birds to stress, fear and pain from the first day."
So what's your call? Unwarranted cruelty, or a simple fact of life? Would you consider giving up eggs after seeing this video?