Peeps

Activists Protest Dyed Chicks

Farmers say process is harmless.

Sure they’re adorable when they’re young—and bright purple—but what will you do with them when they grow up? Animal-rights activists are protesting the practice of dyeing chicks bright colors for Easter, saying that people discard the baby chickens after the holiday. “Humane societies are overflowing with these animals after Easter every year,” says Don Anthony of the Animal Rights Foundation in Florida, where a 45-year-old ban on dyeing animals was overturned last month. Chicks have been dyed for generations, though it’s fallen out of fashion lately. It’s done by injecting food coloring into an egg shortly before it hatches. The color lasts for a few weeks, until the chick sheds its fluff.