Thousands of baby chicks were found abandoned and dying in a Delaware postal truck, leaving an animal shelter scrambling to save the survivors and uncover how the disaster happened, the AP reports. An estimated 12,000 chicks were shipped from Pennsylvania-based Freedom Ranger Hatchery for distribution nationwide, but a still-unexplained breakdown at a Delaware USPS facility left them abandoned inside a mail distribution center for three days with no food or water. Thousands died in a scene described by the shelter director as a "mess," but First State Animal Center and SPCA has been caring for the thousands of survivors for more than two weeks, CBS News reports.
While a few hundred birds have been adopted, the shelter director estimates more than 2,000 remain there. Shelter staff say the situation has forced them into around-the-clock operations and stretched finances thin—so much so that some employees have spent their own money on supplies. The hatchery cannot take back the chicks for biosecurity reasons, and suggests USPS should have delivered them to their intended destination regardless of their condition once they were discovered.
Instead, USPS contacted the Delaware Department of Agriculture, which directed the shelter to house the birds. The shelter and the department remain in talks regarding whether the department will allocate any funds to assist with the chicks' care, as it is supposed to. There's also a chance the department will recoup money from USPS for the chicks' care. Meanwhile, the shelter continues to seek more adoptions and donations as it cares for the birds, which include Freedom Ranger chicks, young turkeys, geese, and quail. The shelter is no-kill, so requests to purchase the birds for use as meat have been denied. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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