After the Live Poultry Slaughter Ban: Why Is It So Hard to Kill a Chicken (Part 1)

Editor's note: In response to avian flu, the Council of Agriculture announced that after 5/17, the slaughter of live poultry in markets would be banned. This policy has dealt a considerable blow to small vendors, chicken farmers and the original chicken slaughterers. This site recently produced the special report "A Health Check on the Live Poultry Slaughter Ban Policy" to explore the policy effects of full mechanical slaughter. This series of articles continues the discussion, examining the impact of the live poultry slaughter ban on small local chicken slaughterers once it took effect. The series has three articles in total, and this article is the first in the series.

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Going to the mechanical slaughterhouse takes two hours round trip, and the chicken all goes bad

A-Qing married into Meinong from China fifteen years ago. With her neatly cropped short hair, petite build and dark complexion, and speaking fluent Hakka, it was only because people around her kept calling her "Mainland girl" that one learned her hometown was also a Hakka village in Guangdong.

The first time I met A-Qing was at a lecture held at the Meinong Tobacco Guidance Station. Wen Chung-liang of the Meinong Rural Field Society, sensing that the traditional market live poultry slaughter ban policy would have many effects on rural life yet lacked opportunities for public discussion, invited Yao Liang-yi, whose family raises chickens in Xianxi, Changhua, to share experiences with Meinong locals.

The talk had barely ended when the young chicken farmer Yao Liang-yi, the speaker, asked whether anyone had questions or opinions to raise for discussion. A-Qing immediately stood up and said, "What you're saying is too complicated, we don't understand it! We Meinong people just like free-range chicken, we won't eat mechanically slaughtered chicken! I'm just a chicken slaughterer. Once this policy comes down, we won't be able to survive. What's the use of talking about all this complicated stuff!"

As soon as A-Qing finished speaking, the people present felt a bit awkward. But Liang-yi was not flustered either; he just kept comforting A-Qing, telling her, "What you say is right. If you have an opinion, you should express it. Tomorrow when the Hakka TV program 'Villagers' Assembly' is recorded, officials from the Council of Agriculture will also come on the program. That's when you should express your feelings and let them know. Only then can you possibly fight for what you want!"

After the lecture ended, A-Qing said to us a little embarrassedly, "Sorry, I'm a bit country, but I just said it straight. I have a family of five to support, and it all depends on me slaughtering a few chickens a day and selling them for money. Now I can't slaughter them myself. If I take them to the mechanical slaughterhouse in Fengshan, it's two hours round trip. In hot weather, the chickens all go bad. Customers won't even look at them, and they won't buy them either. What am I supposed to do?"

Chung-liang added from the side that A-Qing's husband was severely disabled and unable to work, her father-in-law was 96 years old, had suffered a stroke and also had cancer, and she also had two children who were just in elementary school. The entire burden of supporting the household fell on A-Qing.

Misfortunes never come singly. A-Qing's home, located on state-owned land near the Yellow Butterfly Valley, was also within the planned area of Meinong National Nature Park. Because they were tenants, once the national nature park was established, they would also have to relocate. A-Qing ran around everywhere and petitioned, but before the national nature park could take away A-Qing's family's home, the ban on private slaughter first cut off their livelihood.

In the blink of an eye it was getting late. A-Qing took her leave from everyone, saying she would definitely come to the recording the next day. Her petite figure climbed into the truck driver's seat and disappeared into the night.

For the complete report series on the live poultry slaughter ban, please click here