Fall '96 Poultry Press
ACTION ALERT * ACTION ALERT * ACTION ALERT
Protest "Brainstorms" Chick-A-Bator
The 1996 Fall Edition of a holiday gift catalog called Brainstorms is urging customers to buy a mini-mechanical incubator to hatch baby chicks, quails, ducks, and turkeys in the home and "watch the miracle of birth as eggs hatch." It says, "If you don't have the facilities to care for them properly, then please give them to a local zoo, hatchery, farm, humane society, feed or pet dealer."
The Chick-A-Bator is a completely inappropriate, irresponsible, and cruel holiday gift item. The number of sick and deformed birds born in mechanical incubators is extremely high. Baby birds stress easily, they need a lot of sleep and proper nourishment, and they cannot stand constant handling by young children. Either the birds will die of neglect, ignorance, and mistreatment in the home or they will be fed to captive zoo animals or killed by the farm, hatchery, or humane society to which they are taken after "the miracle of birth" is over. Working farms fear the spread of bacteria in their flocks, and humane societies cannot place these birds, the majority of whom are malnourished and ill. Most zoning laws ban the keeping of chickens, turkeys, ducks, and quails. Roosters are unplaceable and ducks need ponds. And while mandated to regulate the pet trade under the Animal Welfare Act, the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture excludes birds from its oversight of the pet trade.
What Can I Do?	Tell Brainstorms to remove the Chick-A-Bator from its catalog immediately. Tell them you will not buy their merchandise until they do. Tell you friends and family to boycott Brainstorms and let the company know why. Contact Brainstorms at 1-800-231-6000; 1-888-235-6472(The owner Mr. Cardaux is at X213). Mailing address: Brainstorms, Anatomical Chart Co., 8221 Kimball, Skokie Illinois 60076-2956. Keep up the pressure and insist on a written reply.
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