estimate). Other estimates include 6 billion (June 2016 SMH claim), 4–6 billion chicks (December 2018 The Guardian claim). According to In Ovo cofounder Wouter Bruins in October 2013, the top 20 poultry production countries alone culled 3.2 billion male chicks a year. Australia: more than 12 million male chicks are culled annually (June 2016 estimate). Maceration is the primary method used, but gassing is also used. Belgium: more than 15 million male chicks are culled annually, 40,000 a day (February 2020 estimate). CO2 gassing is the only method used and happens in two stages: chicks are first stunned and then killed. Canada: 22.5 million male chicks are culled annually, nearly 62,000 a day (December 2016 estimate). France: 50 million male chicks are culled annually in the egg industry (February 2020 estimate) and about 16 million female ducklings and goslings are culled annually in the foie gras industry. Maceration is the primary method in both industries. Germany: up to 50 million male chicks are culled annually (October 2019 estimate). Gassing is the primary method. India: over 180 million male chicks are culled annually (October 2014 estimate). Maceration appears to be the primary method, though suffocation using plastic bags has also been reported. Netherlands: 45 million male chicks are culled annually (May 2016 estimate). Gassing is the primary method. New Zealand: 2.5 million (April 2001 estimate) to 3 million (June 2016 estimate) male chicks are culled annually. Maceration is the primary method. Spain: 35 million male chicks are culled annually (March 2020 estimate). Switzerland: about 3 million male chicks are culled annually (September 2019 estimate). Gassing is the only method used; maceration was prohibited on 1 January 2020, but rarely used before that date. United Kingdom: 30 to 40 million male chicks are culled annually (November 2010 Viva! claim). A November 2010 Telegraph article reported on two undercover operations carried out by animal rights organisation Viva! showing a gassing-method hatchery and a maceration-method hatchery, both located in Preston. Both methods were reportedly 'legal and approved by both the Humane Slaughter Association and the RSPCA', with a British Egg Information Service (BEIS) spokesman saying gassing was used more often than maceration in the UK. In March 2015, a BEIS spokesman insisted that gassing was the only method used in the UK. United States: 300 million male chicks are culled annually (January 2020 The Humane Society claim). The Associated Press estimated this number at