The Humane League Urges End to Inhumane Bird Culling Amid Avian Influenza Crisis

The Humane League has reported a distressing milestone in the ongoing Avian Influenza crisis in the United States. Since February 2022, over 100 million birds have been deliberately culled following the detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) on farms. The majority of these, more than 77 million, were egg-laying hens confined in large-scale concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), where a single outbreak often leads to the deaths of over a million birds.

The primary method used for culling is Ventilation Shutdown (VSD), a practice that involves sealing off ventilation in barns and increasing temperatures until the animals succumb to heatstroke or suffocation. This process, which can take several hours, subjects the animals to extreme suffering. Originally intended for severe disease outbreaks, VSD is now being used as a cost-saving measure, a misuse that The Humane League condemns.

Dayne Alexander, Senior Corporate Research Lead at The Humane League, described the use of VSD as “nothing short of torture,” criticizing the corporate agriculture industry for treating animals as disposable commodities. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recommends VSD+—an even harsher variant—only as a last resort, but achieving the intended rapid death rate is often impractical, leading to prolonged suffering for the animals.

Despite the AVMA’s guidelines, financial incentives from the Department of Agriculture have encouraged the continued use of these inhumane practices. Last year, poultry producers received over half a billion dollars in compensation, with major companies like Jennie-O Turkey Store and Tyson Foods among the largest beneficiaries.

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