Battery Egg Farming
Protecting Animals in Democracy is advocating a
ban on all battery egg farming by 2009.
Battery farming of eggs - involving 21 million hens every year
- is one of the cruellest practices in UK farming. Current EU plans
to replace conventional battery cage with 'enriched' battery cages
by 2012 fail to tackle the problem. 'Enriched' battery cages share
many of the serious welfare problems common to the conventional
battery cage. All cages - whether traditional battery or so-called
'enriched' - are inherently cruel and cause laying hens to suffer
throughout their lives.
According to the RSPCA's report, 'Feathering whose nest?' (1):
"The evidence clearly shows hens confined in cages suffer
intensely. During their year-long laying life:
- They cannot move about properly or even turn around without
difficulty
- They stand on wire-mesh floors
- They can't stretch or flap their wings properly
- They cannot properly carry out important natural behaviours,
such as nesting, dustbathing, perching and scratching
Battery egg farming is the only UK farming system that imposes
such a severe degree of confinement on a large number of farm
animals for their entire productive lives."
A recent MORI poll revealed an overwhelming 86 percent of people
think battery cage systems are cruel, and 78 per cent believe the
government should ban them now, as a priority. The EU proposals
are minimum standards, and member states are free to implement higher
standards in national law. Germany has unilaterally decided to ban
all conventional battery cages by 2006 and 'enriched' cages by 2012.
If Germany can take a lead, why can't Britain?
Our question to candidates in the 2005 General Election
was: Do you support a ban on all caged and battery egg farming by
2009? YES / NO
REFERENCES:
- See www.rspca.org.uk/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=RSPCA/
Campaigns/Egglayinghens
^ |
