At least 4,800 chicks sent to Maine farmers through the U.S. Postal Service have died in recent weeks since rapid cuts hit federal postal service operations, U.S. Rep. Said. Chellie Pingree.
Pingree, a Democrat from Maine, raises the issue of the dead chicks and the losses farms are facing in a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and U.S. Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sonny Perdue, The Portland Press Herald reported Wednesday.
Pauline Henderson, owner of Pine Tree Poultry in New Sharon, Maine, told the newspaper she was shocked last week when all 800 chicks sent to her from a brothel in Pennsylvania were killed.
“Normally, they arrive every three weeks like clockwork,” she said. “And out of 100 birds you may have one or two that die on transmission.”
Henderson told the newspaper thousands of birds that moved through the Postal Service’s processing center in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, were also dead, affecting several farms in Maine and New Hampshire.
The Postal Service’s media contact for the Eastern US did not return a message from the Press Herald reporter on Wednesday.
“Chaos they have created”
“It’s one more of the consequences of this disorganization, this kind of chaos they’ve created in the post office and no one thought about it when they thought of carrying the mail,” Pingree said, adding that her office has received dozens of complaints from farmers and others trying to raise a small herd of chickens in the backyard.
“And can you imagine, you have young children and they are all excited about having a herd in the backyard and you go to the post office and that’s what you find?”
Pingree said she’s not sure if Perdue is aware of how the changes in the Postal Service have affected smaller poultry farmers in the U.S. “This is a system that has always worked before and it worked very well until those changes began. to make, ”she said.
DeJoy, a Republican donor who is the first postmaster general not to come from the ranks of the Postal Service, took control of the agency in June and has since made rapid technical cuts and operational changes affecting postal delivery operations. disturb.
He announced Tuesday that he would do so stop making any changes after mail delivery whereby critics are to blame for widespread delays and warned the November elections, which is expected to bring a surge of post-in-ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
DeJoy is scheduled to witness for the First Chamber on Friday.
President Donald Trump made it clear last week that he was blocking $ 25 billion in emergency aid to the Postal Service, acknowledging that he wanted to limit election post operations, as well as a Democratic proposal to provide $ 3.6 billion in additional election money to states to help process post-in-ballots.
Those funds are tangled in a broader coronavirus aid package that was approved in the House but stopped in the Senate.
Rising demand for live birds
The Postal Service is the only entity that sends live chicks and other small animals and has been doing so since 1918, according to the service’s website.
Backyard herdships have become increasingly popular in recent years among Americans who like fresh eggs and an unusual hobby. Demand for live chickens has also increased earlier this year amid concerns that the pandemic could disrupt food supply.
Public health experts say it is important for people to follow closely procedures in raising chickens, which can carry salmonella.
People should not eat or drink anything when they are outside, and always wash their hands with soap and running water after touching their birds, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those with young children should especially think, because children often want to cuddle birds, then put their hands in their mouths, experts advise.
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