It’s a fowl enterprise.
Animal activists accused a number of Brooklyn and Queens markets of promoting “sickly-looking” dwell chickens as they scrambled to clear stock earlier than a state-mandated shutdown as a result of hen flu.
Animal advocacy group NYCLASS shared disturbing footage they are saying present TIBA in Ridgewood, Queens promoting three “visibly sickly-looking” Cornish cross-breed chickens with important feather loss — one in all three markets within the metropolis they mentioned exhibited stomach-turning situations in latest days.
“I completely do suspect that many of those birds may and most certainly do have avian flu,” NYCLASS govt director Edita Birnkrant informed The Publish, although the markets haven’t had any birds with optimistic exams. “There’s solely been a handful of testing accomplished, [and] there are 80 markets with hundreds and hundreds of birds delivered each single week. Everyone is simply flying blindly.”
Kikiriki Reside Poultry, Inc. and Pio Pio Poultry, each in Bushwick, had been additionally mentioned to be maintaining the birds in poor situations within the weekend forward of the shutdown.
The birds proven within the photographs had been crammed into too-crowded cages with a number of chickens showing to be dying, Birnkrant claimed.
An govt order issued Friday by Gov. Kathy Hochul mandated all dwell poultry markets in New York Metropolis, Lengthy Island and Westchester County to briefly shut till Feb. 14 after seven native circumstances of hen flu had been found in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.
The retailers discovered to have contaminated birds had been ordered to be “depopulated,” sanitized and reopened after profitable inspections. Outlets with out optimistic hen flu circumstances had been informed to promote down all their stock till Monday, then disinfect and keep shuttered for at the very least 5 days whereas state officers examine the companies.
Birnkrant, nevertheless, contends Monday’s shutdown is much too late to be efficient.
“That is all outrageously reckless. Governor Hochul should shut these markets down instantly and for the foreseeable future till the hen flu disaster is manageable,” she mentioned in an announcement. “Merely opening the markets again up in 5 days ensures that shipments of extra birds contaminated with hen flu from manufacturing facility farms will find yourself in cages once more.”
TIBA was closed Sunday with empty cages and an indication on the door saying it will reopen on Feb. 14.
Pio Pio Poultry was closed to the general public on Sunday, with workers hosing down the shop and funneling the runoff into the road.
Two staff at Kikiriki Reside Poultry, Inc. in Bushwick, Brooklyn, which was nonetheless open Sunday, informed The Publish that enterprise has elevated since Friday’s govt announcement, and its stock of dozens of dwell chickens on the retailer had been anticipated to be bought off by closing.
“All of the chickens shall be passed by the tip of the day, they often are,” one employee mentioned, including they had been to shut at 6 p.m. Sunday and open once more on Feb. 15.
The identical employee mentioned Kikiriki doesn’t check its flock for hen flu, and testing is as a substitute dealt with by farmers and state inspectors.
Kikiriki was issued a warning discover by the USDA’s Workplace of Investigation, Enforcement and Audit in October 2022, although it was unclear what the violation was for or if it was ever remedied. Watchdogs discovered at the very least one hen at that institution with a bloody wound “all the way down to the bone” throughout a earlier go to, Birnkrant mentioned.
There are 67 confirmed circumstances of hen flu in people within the US, the CDC mentioned, with over 150 million poultry and practically 960 dairy herds additionally affected as of Thursday.
The New York Metropolis Well being Division has informed uncovered people to observe for indicators of sickness, which may vary from a fever, cough and sore throat or vomiting and extreme respiratory illness.
The information comes as over a dozen geese and wild birds died at a pair of New York Metropolis zoos, The Publish beforehand reported. The parks all stay open, as officers mentioned little danger is posed to people.
“Reside animal markets must be banned not just for the sheer cruelty of forcing sickly animals to dwell out their closing days crammed in cages and filth but additionally for the intense public well being dangers they pose,” mentioned Queens Metropolis Council member Bob Holden, whose jurisdiction contains Ridgewood.
“With avian flu on the rise, there isn’t a justification for permitting these markets to function in residential neighborhoods in a dense city setting,” Holden added.
Birnkrant mentioned her watchdogs’ tour of space dwell markets on Saturday parallels visits made in January of final yr, which discovered birds in overcrowded cages being cannibalized.
“Once they open again up subsequent week, they’re gonna be getting the identical sick birds from the identical manufacturing facility farms in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and upstate New York,” Birnkrant warned.
“Nothing could have modified.”
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