A bird flu outbreak at Hickman’s Family Farms in Arizona resulted in the mass killing of 2.3 million chickens, costing taxpayers over $38 million in insurance payouts due to a recent policy change by the US Department of Agriculture. Animal protection advocates are warning about the escalating costs of industrial animal agriculture for both animals and public health. The outbreak at the egg factory highlights the flaws in the industrial farming model, with millions of animals suffering in crowded, disease-prone conditions.

Footage obtained by Animal Outlook showed the grim reality of the depopulation process, where dead birds were piled into dump trucks without adequate protective equipment. This marks the third bird flu outbreak at a Hickman’s facility in less than a year, resulting in the deaths of 172 million birds across the US. Critics are calling for taxpayers to stop subsidizing the unsustainable system of industrial animal agriculture that prioritizes profit over animal welfare and public health.