The practice of stabbing plastic "nose bones" through male broiler breeder birds' nostrils been kept so deeply hidden in the shadows by the chicken industry, it’s not even mentioned in the National Chicken Council’s Broiler Breeder Welfare Guidelines. Now, as the NCC convenes for its summer board meeting in Utah, Compassion Over Killing is urging it to change this through a powerful new Medium piece by COK's President Erica Meier. TAKE ACTION: Spread your wings for birds with a quick tweet to the NCC urging it to officially ban barbaric “nose bones”!
As Erica explains, little was known about this practice until Compassion Over Killing shined a bright light on it, thanks to COK's brave investigator who got a job with Tyson Foods in 2016. Because of being bred for extremely fast and debilitating growth, "broiler" birds have voracious appetites--yet those used as "breeders" must be kept alive long enough to reproduce. Wide plastic “bones” are used in male birds to physically block their heads from fitting inside food dispensers designated for females--restricting their feed access.
After COK documented Tyson employees grabbing male breeder birds by their heads and stabbing dull plastic “bones” through the nostrils, the company immediately announced that it was ending this practice. Perdue and Wayne Farms quickly followed Tyson’s lead, and COK has now confirmed that 17 of the top 20 US chicken producers have either eliminated or never engaged in this barbaric practice. Only OK Foods, Koch Foods, and Harrison Poultry still remain silent on the issue.
Writes Erica, "Given that the overwhelming majority of the poultry industry no longer uses nose bones, in large part as a result of our investigation, and given that the act of using 'nose bones' was the basis of an animal cruelty conviction in the state of Virginia resulting from our video, it seems fitting for the National Chicken Council to finally update and amend its Guidelines to prohibit this barbaric, outdated practice."
After reading the new piece on Medium, take action TODAY: Spread your wings for birds with a quick tweet to the NCC urging it to officially ban cruel and barbaric “nose bones!”