September 16, 2020
SUBMITTED VIA EMAIL
[email protected]
Mr. Louis DeJoy
Postmaster General
U.S. Postal Service Headquarters
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, D.C. 20260
Re: USPS Shipment of Live Animals
Dear Postmaster General DeJoy:
I am writing on behalf of Farm Sanctuary and our 1.2 million members and constituents to urge you to discontinue the inhumane and unacceptable practice of shipping live animals. The United States Postal Service (USPS) should not permit mailing living animals, including newborn chicks and ducklings, who are packed into boxes without food or water and denied basic humane consideration. Please do everything in your power to cease the practice of treating living animals as inanimate cargo.
The deaths of thousands of animals sent in the mail recently came to light in media reports when farmers in Maine complained about shipments of baby chicks arriving dead, apparently because of operational disruptions at the USPS. One report noted that “Some chicks are getting lost in postal warehouses or spending days on trucks . . .. Others are getting smothered or crushed in the deluge of boxes created by America’s coronavirus-induced online ordering. One hatchery in Pennsylvania lost 3,000 chicks in a recent shipment.” It is telling, and disturbing, that the misery these innocent animals experienced leading up to their untimely deaths has been largely ignored. It is also important to recognize that millions of birds are shipped via the USPS each year, and even under the best circumstances, animals routinely suffer and die when they are shipped in the mail.
Farm Sanctuary has been called to assist animals threatened by the irresponsible USPS practice of mailing live animals on numerous occasions. We’ve received hundreds of requests to help animals who were shipped by the USPS because people who ordered them were not equipped to provide proper care. We were also contacted by a driver who transported chicks for the USPS and who reported routine animal deaths because of inhumane conditions. His concerns were not properly addressed when he contacted his superiors within the system. In fact, he was warned for speaking out. Farm Sanctuary also has had to respond to calls to rescue live animals who’d been abandoned at the post office.
Treating living, feeling animals like cargo damages our humanity and contributes to a broader lack of empathy that has become pervasive in our society. The USPS policies around shipping live animals promote the absence of compassion and prioritize financial concerns such as “indemnity claims” stemming from lost, damaged, or dead animals. The misplaced concern on protecting property and equipment at the expense of animal welfare is clear in this statement on the USPS website: “Adult birds must be properly packaged and able to sustain shipment without food or water because liquids, moisture, and loose foodstuffs can cause damage to the shipping container, other mail, and Postal Service equipment during transport.” By treating living animals like commodities, the USPS is contributing to a culture of callousness.
Shipping live animals over long distances also presents disease risks for human health, which USPS should take seriously especially in light of growing concerns about zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 that pass from other animals to humans. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) warns that three out of every four new diseases infecting people come from animals, with new threats emerging every year. Additionally, according to CDC data, 938 people in 48 states have reported Salmonella infection so far in 2020, and of those interviewed 74% reported contact with chicks and ducklings. Mailing animals to locations across the U.S. presents an unnecessary and unacceptable risk of spreading disease.
Chicks, ducklings and other animals deserve to be treated with respect. They should not be shipped in the mail and treated like inanimate objects. Doing so is harmful to animals, and it is also harmful to us.
Thank you for your time and thoughtful consideration. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Gene Baur
President and Co-founder
Farm Sanctuary