In 2008 California voters passed (by a whopping margin) a citizen’s initiative called the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. Over time, this measure will require that farm animals be kept in conditions that allow them to stand up, turn around, and stretch their limbs. I also believe that over time it will give California farmers a serious edge over their competitors, since they will be forced to adapt to the inevitable (these standards no doubt will become universal eventually) sooner than their competitors.
And speaking of those competitors, egg farmers in Washington State may be changing their practices next. Ballot Initiative 1130 would improve conditions for over six million hens.
Many egg-laying hens are kept in battery cages. These cages overcrowd and stress the hens. The cages are too small for the birds to extend their wings fully. A human kept in such conditions would rightly consider himself tortured.
I-1130, in the words of Brad Evergreen, DVM, “would prohibit confining the estimated 6 million egg-laying hens on Washington farms in stacked, cramped cages and would instead require that the birds be housed so that they can freely stand up, lie down and turn around fully to extend their wings.”
I support this measure, but I’m a Californian so I can’t vote for it. If you live in Washington, you can vote for it. This November, please do.
Click here to read Dr. Evergreen’s full article endorsing I-1130.
Photo: Not in Washington for much longer, I hope.
