France bans crushing and gassing of male chicks from 2022

A chick drinks water at a poultry farm in Pruille-le-Chetif near Le Mans, France, March 4, 2020. Picture taken March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

PARIS (Reuters) - France will ban from next year the killing of male chicks by crushing or gassing, a practice denounced as barbaric by animal welfare groups, and will push for a similar measure at European level, the agriculture minister said on Sunday.

Each year, 50 million male chicks are culled in this way, Julien Denormandie said in an interview posted on the website of daily Le Parisien. Only females, future egg-laying hens, are kept alive.