By SARA RUBERG NYTimes News Service
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Thousands of chicks that spent three days in a U.S. Postal Service truck in early May have overwhelmed a Delaware animal shelter, frustrating the hatchery that had shipped them to various farms, the shelter and hatchery said.

On May 2, the Delaware Department of Agriculture received a call from the Postal Service saying that it had “an undeliverable box of baby birds.”

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The department contacted First State Animal Center and SPCA in Camden, Delaware, and employees there, along with agriculture department employees, reported to the Postal Service’s Delaware Processing and Distribution Center. There, they found 4,000 dead chicks and 10,000 living ones abandoned in a delivery truck, according to a news release from the Delaware Department of Agriculture. They also found turkeys, geese, quail and chukars, state agriculture officials said.

The chicks were part of a routine shipment from a Pennsylvania hatchery sent out April 29. The department and First State Animal Center, a shelter, “worked tirelessly” to transport the chicks there and provide them with care, according to the news release.

First State Animal Center said in a Facebook post that the chicks were abandoned in the delivery truck “without water, food or temperature control.”

Since the chicks’ arrival, the shelter has been asking for help from the state and the community as it has been caring for the thousands of chicks “24/7 with heat, food, water and survival care.” The shelter put the birds up for adoption May 13.

The shelter was closed Monday, and phone messages and emails to the shelter were not returned. But The Associated Press reported Monday that only a few hundred of the chicks had been adopted.

The Freedom Ranger Hatchery, which raised and shipped the chicks, said in an emailed statement that the Postal Service had not explained why the chicks never made it to their destinations. The hatchery said it was unsure if it would be compensated for the loss, which has “compounding effects with the many small family farms that were counting on these birds for their summer grow out schedules.”

The birds were supposed to be shipped to several states, and at least 2,000 were intended to be delivered to Spokane, Washington, according to the Delaware Department of Agriculture.

“Federal mail was given out without permission and was dumped on a shelter who was not prepared to care for this live cargo,” the hatchery said in the statement. “Once the USPS recognized their error, the best option for the Postal Service would have been to expedite the packages to get to their end destination where the recipients were prepared to care for the birds.”

The Postal Service said in a statement that it had “established processes and procedures for the safe handling” of live animal shipments.

“The hatcheries/farms are required to ensure that all packaging requirements are met and that the poultry is provided to the Postal Service within 24 hours of hatching,” the statement said, adding that in the rare instance of a loss of life, the Postal Service will “look into the incident and local Postal Service teams work with affected customers to address their concerns and determine timely solutions.”

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