Scientists at Leipzig University in Germany developed technology that could save 45 million male chicks from
being cruelly killed by the country’s egg industry each year,
LiveKindly reports.
The company behind the groundbreaking
technology, SELEGGT, aims to make it free to hatcheries as
soon as 2020. Julia Klöckner, Germany’s minister of agriculture; Dr. Ludger
Breloh, managing director of SELEGGT; and Jan Kunath, deputy board chairman of retail
company REWE Group, announced the exciting news at a press
conference last week.
Leipzig University received more than $5
million in funding to develop the technology that helps hatcheries determine
the sex of chicks before they hatch.
This technology is important, because millions
of male chicks are killed in the egg industry each year. Since they do not lay
eggs or grow quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat, males are typically
killed within hours of hatching. Some are ground
up alive, while others are gassed or suffocated.
Sadly, this technology will not spare hens a lifetime of misery. When
they are just a few days old, chicks have their sensitive beaks seared off with
a hot blade. And at egg farms, the birds are kept in deplorable conditions. Most
are confined in battery cages, each hen given less floor space than the size of
an iPad. They never breathe fresh air or feel grass beneath their feet.
Instead, they live in filthy warehouses, trapped inside barren cages.
After two years of torment, when their egg
production slows down, hens are sent to slaughter.
Watch this Mercy For Animals undercover
investigation at Gray Ridge Egg Farms, one of Canada’s largest egg producers.
While this new technology could spare millions
of animals a gruesome death, no one needs to eat eggs or support this industry
at all. Join the millions of people who have switched to a compassionate vegan
diet. Order your FREE Vegetarian Starter Guide today. And check
out our Pinterest page for thousands of recipe ideas!
And visit ChooseVeg.com for tips on replacing
eggs for breakfast and baking
without eggs.