Humane Society Accuses Northwest Airlines

The Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA said Friday it will pursue animal cruelty charges against Northwest Airlines after thousands of turkey chicks died on flights to San Francisco International Airport within the past two weeks.

The chicks were being shipped as "breeders" by Hybrid Turkeys, a commercial breeder in Canada, to Zacky Farms in Fresno.

According to PHS, Hybrid delivered 144 boxes of turkey chicks (each containing about 80) to Northwest Airlines in Detroit. The chicks were to be flown to SFO on July 13 and driven to Fresno.

In the statement, PHS alleged that Northwest failed to follow the instructions of the shipper to divide the cargo between two separate flights. All 144 boxes were sent on one flight, and more than 9,100 of the chicks died. The shipper and PHS blame overcrowding for the deaths, the statement said.

According to PHS, more turkey chicks from the same supplier and flown to the same destination on July 19 by Air Canada also perished. Northwest Airlines handles cargo for Air Canada.

In that case, PHS said, Hybrid Turkeys sent a large shipment to SFO, this time on three separate Air Canada flights, presumably a replacement shipment for the chicks that died on the July 13 Northwest flight. One of the planes had a mechanical malfunction and landed in Las Vegas, where cargo was unloaded and sat for hours in 108-degree weather before being loaded on to American West to SFO, PHS said.

When chicks were picked up at SFO for transfer to Zacky Farms, 28 of the original 117 boxes were left behind, as chicks in these boxes were dead or dying, the statement said. The humane society alleges that 26 of the boxes were put into a trash compactor by Northwest cargo handlers.

The society is making those chicks that did survive the shipments available for adoption.

"For us, the issue isn't whether or not people should eat turkeys or other animals raised for meat," PHS President Ken White said in the statement. "Rather, the issue is how are the animals cared for who are raised for food, how they live and how they die. What we eat is a personal choice. How animals live and die is very much the business of this organization."

Tracy Carlson, a spokeswoman for Northwest, said the airline had no immediate comment, "as we are unfamiliar with the group's concerns." She said late Friday night that airline officials had not had the time to research the particulars of the case.

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