What’s the first thing you see when you wake up?
What if it was a cage?
What if every single day you woke up, you saw a cage?
Would you enjoy that?
I know I wouldn’t, and I know the over two million egg laying hens in B.C. don’t enjoy it either. They also hate being crammed together in these cages with on average less space than a standard piece of printed paper (94 square inches). That tiny space is all they will ever have for their entire lives. They aren’t treated like living animals, they’re treated like machines. They aren’t given a proper place to lay their eggs, nor are anywhere to dustbathe or perch. These are natural behaviours that are important to them, and it is extremely stressful and uncomfortable when they cannot perform these behaviours. To make matters worse, instead of dustbathing, hens are often forced to bathe in urine and feces that fall from other hens in cages stacked above. The list of welfare risks and cruelties that these animals endure on a daily basis is endless, which is why it's up to us to call on the government to ban this cruel and dangerous practice.
Please sign this petition to urge Agriculture Minister Lana Popham and the B.C. Government to ban battery cages in our egg industry. This would not only benefit millions of neglected hens, but it would also drastically lower the risk of salmonella infection for B.C. citizens. A study by the European Food Safety Agency, which analyzed data from 5,000 egg farms in more than 20 countries found that eggs from battery caged hens were twenty-five times more likely to carry salmonella infection than uncaged free run hens!
Momentum is building in the cage-free movement. Major food chains such as Mcdonald’s, Subway, Tim Hortons and Burger King have committed to sourcing only cage-free eggs in the future. Major grocers such as Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys and Walmart Canada have done the same. Recently, the Egg Farmers of Canada have pledged to end the use of battery cages by 2036. This is a big step in the right direction, but the 2036 timeline is ridiculously drawn-out. If the B.C. government truly cares about the safety of B.C. citizens and B.C. farm animals it must lead by example and ban caged housing in our egg industry, allowing a far shorter timeline. This is simply the right thing to do.
- Ned Taylor
UPDATE: Like our Facebook page to enhance the fight for a cage-free BC: https://www.facebook.com/Cage-Free-BC-1840004186274923/
Bibliography
http://www.bcegg.com/farm-to-table/bc-egg-producers
http://www.spca.bc.ca/animal-issues/farm-animal-welfare/farm-animals/egg-laying-hens.html
http://www.choosecagefree.org/cage-free-benefits
http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/97r
http://www.humanefood.ca/battery.html
