Gov. Kathy Hochul must shut down NYC’s live poultry markets for good, activists urged this week after visiting four recently reopened spots.
“Each one of these places was worse than the last,” said Councilmember Robert Holden, who was joined by animal activists and Republican mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa. “I can’t imagine they could sell these birds. They had no feathers, open wounds, were bleeding a lot.”
Earlier this month, Hochul ordered 82 live poultry markets across New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County to close for five days — concerned over the spread of avian bird flu — mandating all markets were cleaned and re-inspected before greenlighting their reopening.
Even so, conditions remained abhorrent, Holden said.
“They pile these birds in cages on the street, and so there’s this yellow guck — probably feces — with the blood on the street, and it goes down the street, and people walk in it, tracking it home,” said Holden, who visited Tiba Live Poultry in Ridgewood and Kikiriki Live Poultry, Sam Live Poultry and Pio Pio Live Poultry in Bushwick, Brooklyn
The conservative Dem said he no longer eats chicken after seeing the conditions at live markets a year ago.
“It doesn’t seem sanitary. Why are these places allowed to exist in a crowded area in the middle of New York City?”
Edita Birnkrant, executive director of animal rights group NYCLASS, said the markets she visited with Holden sell birds insufficiently tested for avian flu — which has spread to nearly 70 humans within the last year.
A Feb. 19 state emergency order mandates poultry farmers must test only 30 random birds from a “source flock,” which could include hundreds of thousands of birds, Birnkrant said.
“This is almost worse than doing nothing because it is conning the public into believing they care about their safety,” she said.
Holden sent a letter to Hochul Friday calling for “a comprehensive review” of live bird markets in the city to prevent “potential health crises associated with avian influenza.”
“As an animal rights person, I believe no living thing should suffer, and these birds were suffering,” Holden said. “These places need to be shut down.
“Live markets should not be operating in New York City.”
In a statement, Hochul’s office said she “directed the State Department of Agriculture and Markets to conduct routine inspections of live bird markets for the avian flu,” and added that the state “strengthened oversight of these markets” this week to help detect sick birds before they enter these stores.
“New York State,” the statement continued, “will continue its coordinated, cross-agency strategy to help stop the spread of avian flu and protect public health.”
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