Covid-19 has affected the lives of many in different ways. Even the rural areas where the population density isn’t as severe as in the urban areas are severely affected by the novel coronavirus. We had previously written about how milk farmers were dumping their milks because of the sudden decrease in demand.

Today, the Delmarva Poultry Industry announced that approximately 2 million chickens in Delaware and Maryland will be ‘depopulated’. This means that the chickens will be killed and not be processed for meat.

The industry has cited the lack of workers in the workplace as the main reason. Currently, workers from all sectors have been ordered to stay home if they have symptoms of Covid-19. There had been concerns from health experts that these measures weren’t being enforced strictly enough in the farms.

According to The Baltimore Sun, this order caused a serious strain in chicken farms in the two states. Brough into these facilities a few weeks back as young chicks, chickens have to be ‘harvested’ to provide space for the next batch of chicks.

Delmarva Poultry Industry said that they were the first company to set on ‘depopulation’. The company announced that all alternatives, such as selling the chicken to other companies, were not available to them at this point in time.

The company also emphasized that ‘depopulation’ was a legal and authorized action by all accounts. The American Veterinary Medical Association does approve of this method. However, it is also stated that depopulation take place to prevent infectious avian diseases such as bird flu.

Animal rights activists believe that Delmarva is abusing an extreme measure just for their revenues. Save Delmarva Chickens stated that it is clear that depopulation is only to be conducted when the chickens are in risk of the virus, not the workers who work at the industrial coops.

Farmers argue that they have been facing unprecedented financial insecurity since the pandemic broke out. Although from a different state, the owner of a prominent coop in South Dakota said that the coop’s productivity has more than halved because the workers have called in sick.

Delmarva clarified that the effects of this depopulation won’t be reflected in the markets for at least 6 weeks. This is because meat processing firms have enough surplus for that time.

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Replaced!