Coronavirus: California animal sanctuary charters two planes to rescue 1,000 chickens from farm

Animal Place will house the rescued chickens until they are well enough to be adopted

Animal Place chartered two planes to transport the chickens from Iowa to California (AFP via Getty Images)

A California animal sanctuary chartered two planes to rescue 1,000 chickens from a farm in Iowa before they could be euthanized.

Animal Place, a large animal sanctuary in northern California, revealed in a press release their latest mission to save farm animals prior to them being euthanized during the coronavirus pandemic.

An Iowa farm, which was not named by the sanctuary, was preparing to decrease its chicken population because of a decline in operations due to Covid-19. Instead, the farm agreed to give the 1,000 chickens to Animal Place.

Two employees with the sanctuary drove nearly 30 hours from California to Iowa to coordinate the effort with other volunteers.

The sanctuary then charted two private planes, paid for by a donor, to assist in the transfer of the chickens to the new farm.

"With funds running low, the farm had not been feeding the hens well for a week prior to rescue," according to the sanctuary's press release. "The farm employs a battery cage system with cages stacked four to five high, and 10 hens per cage."

The flight was about eight hours in length, which included a stop for fuel.

"The entire process, from the 27-hour drive, arriving at the farm at 3am, loading and unloading full crates from the planes and vehicles, and going straight to caring for them once we arrived at the sanctuary was the most exhausting experience I've ever had," Hannah Beins, Animal Place animal care director, said in a statement.

"I would do it again in a heartbeat, because until their rescue these hens never got to touch grass or feel the sunshine, and now they can live out the rest of their lives as chickens should."

Animal Place, which currently houses the chickens, was in the process of nursing some of the sick animals back to health. They would be available for adoption by residents with backyard farms.

Chickens too ill to be adopted would remain at Animal Place for the rest of their lives.

The food industry was hit hard during the coronavirus pandemic after several meatpacking plants were forced to shut down over concerns of workers becoming infected. Farms also experienced a surplus in food that they were unable to sell, with some throwing out viable products.