BULLETIN AUTOMNE 2006 (4)

[Animal 0]

Humane Society wants suit against airline

Tara Ramroop, The Examiner
Jul 24, 2006

SAN FRANCISCO - The Peninsula Humane Society is pushing for animal cruelty charges against Northwest Airlines, after 9,000 turkey chicks died on one of its flights.


Earlier this month, Canada-based commercial breeder Hybrid Turkeys shipped more than 11,000 weeks-old turkeys — meant for Fresno-based Zacky Farms — on a Northwest flight, PHS spokesman Scott Delucchi said.

Northwest officials allegedly loaded all the turkeys on one flight instead of two, and most of the birds suffocated in the cargo bay, humane society officials charge. Another 9,000 turkeys were sent a week later as replacement in three separate Air Canada flights. But many of those turkeys died as well when one flight — and the cargo —were unloaded and left out in the hot sun at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Delucchi said.

“We came to pick up a number of them,” Delucchi said. “And most of them died within hours.”

Hybrid, learning that their turkeys had died, sent a letter to Northwest last week saying the company intended to sue. Meanwhile, PHS, which is still collecting evidence, wants the San Mateo County District Attorney to press charges against the airline, if necropsies show that the turkeys suffocated.

Northwest, Hybrid and Zacky officials couldn’t be reached for comment on Sunday.

Animal rights laws are much stricter for domestic animals than they are for farm animals, Delucchi said. But he said he still wants the person responsible for delivering or retrieving the turkeys to be held accountable.

“It doesn’t matter that they’re going to end up on someone’s plate,” Delucchi said. “As animals, they deserve basic humane treatment.”



http://www.examiner.com/a-189261~Humane_Society_wants_suit_against_airline.html