LEADING THE CHARGE
Planted | 28
Slaughter
A
MAN IN A
white butcher
frock rings up
two women at
Chicago Live Poultry on a sunny
spring afternoon. Outside, one of
the women asks another worker,
“How much longer will it be?” ¶
“How long did he tell you?” the
shop worker asks. ¶ “Thirty minutes,”
she says. ¶ “OK, wait five
more,” he replies. ¶ She has a few
bags of groceries from the market
next door and is just waiting
for her fresh meat.
A live market such as Chicago Live
Poultry has chickens, rabbits, ducks,
turkeys, guinea fowl and quail delivered
two or three times a week. The shop kills
the animals and prepares the meat in a
back room for people who keep halal or
just like fresh meat. One block north of
Devon, on Western Avenue, Chicago
Live Poultry sits in the heart of the city’s
most diverse business district and is one
of Chicago’s 15 licensed slaughterhouses,
14 of which are live markets.
Chicago was once called “the hog
butcher for the world.” In 1924, at peak
production, the city’s stockyards processed
18.6 million livestock, according
to Dominic A. Pacyga’s book, “Slaughterhouse:
Chicago’s Union Stock Yard
and the World It Made.” As the interstate
highway system developed, it became
easier to build large slaughterhouses
away from railroad hubs. Consequently,
Chicago’s slaughter industry dwindled
until what mostly remained were specialty
storefront live markets, usually
nothing more than a counter in a small
white room with chicken feet hanging
behind it and cages of poultry in the
back awaiting purchase and slaughter.
Now, activists working for the young
and growing Slaughter Free Chicago
campaign are on a mission to close the
city’s remaining slaughterhouses.
Continued on Page 30 »
Robert Grillo stands near Chicago Live Poultry. The live market
had its license temporarily suspended in April 2020 after Grillo
and other activists pressured city officials to inspect the location.