46 / Chapter 2
region. Kate Walker, of Farm Sanctuary, and Kim Sturla, of Ani-
mal Place, went to Jackson, Mississippi, to get lists of broiler and
laying facilities from the USDA and farm bureau representatives.^17
They then drove into the rural areas, often unsure where they were
because any road signs or landmarks that might have guided them
had been blown away. Ten days had passed, and the poultry compa-
nies were considering their broiler and layer facilities a loss. Walker
and Sturla scouted the area, going from farm to farm and stopping
at processing facilities, asking people where the growing houses
were. Both recall that people were at fi rst suspicious of these two
women, one from New York, the other from California, who were
looking for chickens. They encountered no active resistance but lit-
tle cooperation, either.
As the birds died in the wrecked houses, the companies began
to consider the issue one of biosecurity. The odor of manure pits
mixed with that of dead and dying birds. People who lived near
poultry facilities began complaining about the odor. Broiler produc-
tion requires electricity for ventilation, not only because of the heat
but because the concentration of birds creates an overwhelming
odor of urine. Walker recalled that the odor provided a compass in
a landscape where the storm had taken away the road signs. “We got
to where we thought the road was,” she explained, “and then we’d
roll down the windows.” At fi rst, poultry companies had told farm-
ers just to let the birds out. However, the birds ran all over neighbor-
hoods and were hit by cars. Then, as the birds began dying of thirst,
starvation, and heat, companies simply decided to bury them, even
those who were still alive. Bulldozers and front-loaders arrived to
level the facilities and “dispose of” the birds. By September 12, when
rescue efforts on behalf of the region’s dogs and cats were in full
force, poultry companies had begun bulldozing chickens into mass
graves. Sturla recounted the scene at the fi rst facility she found:
We met the farmer, and he was willing to let us take those
that we could catch, because they were just dying out there.
It was already, I think, ten days poststorm. [The poultry
company] were getting their bulldozers and just bulldoz-