(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, JAN 20 - Germany is set to be the first
country to ban mass culling of male chicks in the poultry
industry, the government said Wednesday after approving a draft
law ending the controversial practice. The measure passed by the
cabinet envisages a ban on mass chick killing from 2022 in "a
significant step forward for animal welfare," Agriculture
Minister Julia Kloeckner said in a statement. In many poultry
businesses, male chicks are separated from females soon after
hatching and shredded or gassed as they do not produce eggs and
generate less meat. Tens of millions of males are culled in
Germany every year. Animal welfare activists have long
campaigned to end the practice but farmers have complained there
is no practical, affordable and cruelty-free alternative. But
methods to determine the sex of chicks before they hatch are
available to farmers, according to the government. (ANSA-AFP).
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