Mobissimo

Seems Northwest is not the turkey friendly airline we imagined. They were entrusted with the care of some 11,500 little turkey chicks for a flight from Detroit to San Francisco and they managed to kill 9,000 of them. Yup, 9,000 little baby turkeys gone. So sad. Think of all the Thanksgiving tables they could have graced. So next time an airline loses your luggage, remember the little turkeys and stop complaining. It could have been worse. Much worse. From Inside Bay Area:

Northwest Airlines, in a statement released Monday, apologized for the mishandling of a shipment of commercial turkey chicks that resulted in their deaths in a flight bound for the Bay Area some two weeks ago.

More than 9,000 turkey chicks died July 13 on a Northwest Airlines flight from Detroit to San Francisco International Airport. Another 2,000 chicks died on a July 19 Air Canada flight, but Northwest disavows any responsibility for that shipment.

"In the case of a July 13 shipment of day-old turkey chicks from Detroit to San Francisco, the shipment was not properly handled by Northwest Cargo," Northwest Airlines spokesman Dean Breest said in the statement.

"Northwest has apologized to the shipper," he added.

The turkey chicks were shipped by Canada's Hybrid Turkeys. They were to be sent to Zacky Farms in Fresno, the Peninsula Humane Society reported.

According to the PHS, Hybrid Turkeys drove 144 boxes of turkeys, each containing 80 chicks, to Detroit in a climate-controlled truck.

The company reportedly instructed Northwest Airlines to divide the 144 boxes between two flights bound for SFO; once at SFO, the young turkeys would be placed in another climate-controlled truck and driven to Fresno.

However, all 144 boxes were shipped on one flight, resulting in the deaths of most of the turkey chicks. The turkeys died as a result of overcrowding, according to PHS spokesman Scott Delucchi.