A struggling egg farm in Iowa was about to euthanize 1,000 chickens before a California farm animal sanctuary stepped in.
Workers from Animal Place loaded the chickens onto two cargo planes Saturday to rescue them from their unfortunate fate. The animals will be taken to the group's sanctuary near Grass Valley, just north of Sacramento.
Kim Sturla, the organization's director, explained Friday that the chickens were coming from an egg farm that was going out of business, planning to kill the chickens.
Animal Place will work to rehabilitate the hens and adopt them out to people throughout California.
"The rehabilitation process takes about two weeks to a month," Sturla said. "These are birds that have lived their whole lives in a cage. They've never felt earth on their feet."
Sturla estimated that the cost of the efforts would be in the range of "tens of thousands of dollars." Much of the funds were raised through donations.
An Animal Place donor covered the cost of the planes.