On May 12th, a postal shipment of 200 day-old chicks from a hatchery in Philadelphia were delivered to a Portland post office but not picked up by the person who ordered them. It was estimated that one-third of the chicks died in transit. The Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary received 11 of the chicks and continued their treatment throughout the night, but only four survived despite their best efforts.

This type of tragedy is common in the U.S., as millions of baby chicks are shipped between states every year. While conditions are already bad enough for the young, helpless birds, a new bill introduced by Iowa Senator Charles Grassley could make matters even worse.

Newborn birds are routinely shipped through the mail as "perishable matter," treated no differently from packaged food. Postal regulations require only that the birds be delivered to the receiver (game fowl breeders, farmers, 4-H clubs, commercial laboratories, etc.) within 72 hours of hatching, with no provisions for food, water or weather conditions. As a result, millions of baby chicks, ducklings and other "poultry" are delivered dead and dying each year. Unclaimed birds are often left to suffocate in plastic bags or are otherwise cruelly disposed of. Postal workers who find boxes of dead and dying baby birds shipped through their facility are forbidden by law to intervene.

Responding to complaints from animal advocates, U.S. Postal Service (USPS) employees, and others (including FedEx, which took over the Eagle Service previously run by the USPS and which doesn't want to ship birds as mail), the USPS made small policy changes. They now require that the shipment of all live animals be coordinated through their central offices to ensure the birds' arrival, and have set a four-hour limit on ground transportation.

In response to these modest reforms, Senator Grassley recently introduced S. 2395, a bill that would force the USPS to accommodate the industry trade group Bird Shippers of America and its member associates, which include game fowl breeders, cockfighters and poultry mail order hatcheries. S. 2395 would:

1. Force the USPS to require certain airlines to transport birds
2. Compel those airlines to transport birds through connecting cities, not necessarily on direct flights
3. Require those airlines to transport birds in any temperatures between 0 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit

These new conditions would result in the deaths of millions of more baby chicks being shipped around the U.S. every year. Please speak out for these defenseless birds now.