Over 1,000 hens that were going to be killed were rescued by a California animal shelter. The chickens belonged to an egg farm on the brink of bankruptcy out in Iowa. The unnamed farm was forced to scale down operations due to the coronavirus. This action caused supply chains to slow down. Over 100,000 were set to be killed by carbon dioxide gas emissions.
An organization called Animal Place agreed to rescue 1,000 of those hens and relocate them to their large animal sanctuary in northern California. Several food plants have been forced to shut down as workers become infected. In Delaware, over two million chickens were killed due to a lack of healthy workers at chicken farming plants. It's affecting everywhere.
Animal Place used a couple of private planes to collect the chickens from Iowa. Thanks to the generosity of a donor, the hens flew from Iowa all the way out to the golden coast. That's not all, two of the sanctuary's dedicated employees also decided to make a 30-hour drive to the farm to oversee the rescue. Those chickens finally flew the coop and are living large out west.
"With funds running low, the farm had not been feeding the hens well for a week prior to rescue. The farm employs a battery cage system with cages stacked four to five high, and 10 hens per cage," said the sanctuary's press release. Additionally, some of the chickens are available for adoption at the shelter for any CA residents who want their own fresh eggs!