Petition to Tractor Supply: Stop Selling Chicks
New Petition Asks Tractor Supply to Stop Selling Baby Chicks and Ducklings for the Spring
Woodstock Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit animal rights organization in Upstate New York, has just launched a new petition asking Tractor Supply, the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the United States, to stop selling baby chickens and ducks as part of their seasonal inventory. The petition, which needs 8,000 signatures by March 31st, calls to stop the transport, shelving, and selling of infant chicks and ducklings in order to end impulse buying from inexperienced homeowners and the negative outcomes of these purchases, for the birds themselves and for sanctuaries like Woodstock.
Baby ducklings trying to warm up on top of each other at a Tractor Supply.
The Sanctuary urges that the realities of long-term chicken and duck care are not transparent in Tractor Supply stores—the retailer will sell them to anyone, which leads to potential predator attacks due to poorly-protected backyards, and the possible discarding and neglect of the birds if a household does not know how to treat sickness or support a flock long-term. Woodstock Sanctuary, alongside numerous other rescues, shelters, and animal sanctuaries, prepares every year for an influx of requests to take in birds bought on a whim for their eggs and bodies; with inflation and higher costs to operate a sanctuary, paired with lower donations in the last few years, the ability to say yes and provide refuge is becoming extremely limited.
“Corporations like Tractor Supply profit from the sale of baby chicks and ducklings to consumers who have no idea what it takes to care for these birds,” Anna Balser, Education Manager at Woodstock Sanctuary says, “Nonprofit sanctuaries and rescues, like ours, are left to educate consumers and/or rescue their sick, injured, and abandoned chickens and ducks. We are asking Tractor Supply to take responsibility for the harm they are causing when they sell baby birds to anyone who walks through the door, and to stop profiting off these babies’ lives.”
With the avian flu causing egg prices to rise in recent months, the Sanctuary is concerned that more people will be purchasing chicks as a cheap way to get eggs. However, the care that chickens need is more expensive than most people anticipate. This leads to people abandoning birds or neglecting to give them proper care in order to save money.
Woodstock Sanctuary’s goal is to reach 8,000 signatures by March 31st. Click here to sign the petition to help the organization get ahead of the impulse buying that occurs during the Spring and Easter season and bring a strong show of public support to Tractor Supply leadership.
(Cover photo by WeAnimals.)
Can you help us make a difference?
Click below to sign our petition to stop Tractor Supply from selling chicks and ducklings.