CHICAGO: About 1,000 lucky chickens flew on two chartered cargo planes to a California sanctuary from an Iowa farm that has been euthanising its flock as the coronavirus outbreak slashes restaurant demand for eggs, an animal rights group said.

Farmers have killed off pigs and chickens as the pandemic shuts slaughterhouses and upends the food supply chain, leaving producers without markets for their animals, room to keep them or money to feed them.