The shipping of live animals is a standard practice of the U.S. Post Office.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
An incidence of what a local resident termed as “extraordinary animal cruelty” turns out to be an ordinary custom practiced by a branch of the federal government, the U.S. Postal Service.
On a visit to her local post office one day, Nadine Cain was horrified to learn that a box of newborn chicks, packed tightly into a small container with no food or water, and minimal ventilation, languished in a back room of the post office for at least a day, until the addressee came to retrieve them.
“When I asked the postal worker about this, he said it happens all the time,” Cain said. “People ship day-old chicks, for whatever reason, and as long as they can be delivered to the recipient within 72 hours, it’s perfectly legal. Obviously, many of the chicks die before they are picked up.”
Since 1919, the Postal Service has retained statutes dictating the terms of shipment of live animals, including newborn and adult fowl, lizards, earthworms, snails, leeches, scorpions and even honey bees.
Warm-blooded animals, other than birds, may not be shipped through the USPS.
Shippers of live animals must use “properly ventilated” packaging with clear markings, and must guarantee delivery to the addressee within 72 hours. But that frequently means to a post office staffer who then contacts the recipient to come retrieve the shipment. This does not always happen in a timely fashion, Cain said.
“Whenever we get shipments of live animals, we call the recipient first thing in the morning,” Carl, a Malibu postal worker who declined to give his last name, said. “We can’t do anything about when they come to pick them up, though. And, yeah, sometimes the animals die.”
When asked why people ship day-old chicks through the mail, Carl said pet owners use them as food for exotic animals.
“One guy feeds them to his python,” Carl said. “I know one lady who imports special lizards from the Valley somewhere to let loose around her house because she doesn’t like to use insecticides. We’ve even gotten ladybugs in the mail.”
Larry Dozier, spokesman for the Los Angeles area Postal Service, said, “It’s rare if shipments arrive and the animals die. We take every humane step possible to make sure they are cared for. People use this method of transport because it’s very cost effective.”
Despite Dozier’s claims, there have been numerous documented incidents of mailed animals arriving in such poor condition that up to half the shipment is dead.
Last month, county Animal Services in Oakland, Calif. took custody of 500 one-day-old chicks that had been shipped from a Santa Cruz hatchery for a destination in Washington State. They were alerted when the Oakland Airport Postal Service discovered many sick and dead chicks in the five boxes.
Even if the chicks’ ultimate destiny is to provide lunch for a 7-foot-long snake, the practice is enough to make some postal workers a bit uneasy.
“I’ve had customers tell me it’s no one’s business what they do with baby chickens,” Carl said. “But if the animals already have a doomed life, why make them suffer?”
The animal rights’ activist organization PETA, or People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, deplores the custom of shipping live baby chicks and has fielded numerous complaints from across the country.
“PETA is very concerned that the law still allows shipment of live animals by the USPS and other carriers,” Stephanie Bell, a cruelty caseworker for PETA, said. “Usually, they are packed in so tightly that they can’t move. If they are shipped by air, they suffer unbelievable cold and stress. Many of them die from the stress.”
Bell said that states have no jurisdiction in the matter because federal law permits shipment of live animals.
“Unless Congress mandates otherwise, the post office can’t turn them away,” Bell said. “So we encourage people not to ship, but we also advise post offices on handling of live animals that arrive at their offices.”
Live shipments can present a safety concern to postal workers as well. Bell said in November of 2003, workers at the Milwaukee post office were startled when a 4-foot long alligator chewed his way out of a shipping carton.
“If shipped animals are allowed to die, then local law enforcement can handle the issue with the recipient,” Bell said. “But the bottom line is that, as long as it’s legal, shipped animals will die.”
“There are a lot of animal lovers here in Malibu,” Cain said. “I think if we all write our congressmen, something might change. Because this is just plain cruel.”