Two baby chicks mailed as a prank to an ex-girlfriend have died.
Initial reports said a man mailed 15 chicks to his former girlfriend in Washington, DC with a note saying that there are “lots of other chicks out there.”
But it turns out there were 17 and two didn’t survive the trip.
“I think it was a really bad idea to use live animals as a joke or gag or prop,” said Terry Cummings, director of the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, Maryland. “I’m angry somebody would do something like that.”
The Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary received the chicks and is now caring for nine of them, Cummings said. The rest were given to another sanctuary.
The survivors are doing well, at least. Cummings said they’ll get to live their lives on a 430-acre sanctuary with 200 other rescued animals.
“They are doing great. They are growing, starting to get their little feathers,” she said. “They’re running in their little play pen. They’re very happy.”
One chicken had an injured leg but is recovering.
Sending baby chicks through the mail is legal. An increasing number of people order them to keep in the backyard for eggs, Cummings said. But that means more chickens or roosters end up at the sanctuary because people abandon them.
Gavin Stern is a national digital producer for the Scripps National Desk. Follow him on twitter at @GavinStern or email him at gavin.stern@scripps.com.
