humane society cries fowl
Date: April 4, 2006
Canadian Egg Marketing Agency denies access to secret welfare policy
The Vancouver Humane Society (VHS) is not surprised to have reached a dead-end regarding the much-touted Animal Care Program promoted by the Canadian Egg Marketing Agency (CEMA). A VHS request to the agency for the details of the program has been denied, because the society opposes the use of (battery) cages for egg-laying hens.
“I’m wondering what they have to hide,” stated Debra Probert, executive director of VHS. “They use it as a public relations tool whenever anyone criticizes the industry, yet they will not disclose the details. How can the public judge if it’s a good, effective program that addresses the animal welfare issues of the 26 million egg laying hens in Canada, when they will not tell anyone what it contains?”
Probert is especially concerned since the VHS and the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals (CCFA) released undercover footage of a typical egg farm in Ontario, taken in September of 2005. The video and photographs showed filthy conditions, with hens crammed into cages and covered in feces. The hens, who could hardly move, let alone spread their wings, nest or dust-bathe as they are naturally programmed to do, were suffering from severe feather-loss. The farm is owned by a poultry veterinarian who at the time was affiliated with the Animal Welfare Committee at the University of Guelph, a premier agricultural university in Canada.
“What are they hiding?” asks Probert. “If these conditions are not the norm, then why won’t they show what they’re doing? Based on our evidence, we’ll have to assume that filthy, crowded, cruel conditions are ubiquitous for all caged hens in Canada and that the industry is doing little to address the issues involved.”
The VHS and CCFA have produced a review of the scientific literature showing unequivocally that battery cages are cruel, denying hens opportunities for even the most basic behaviours. This report can be accessed at www.chickenout.ca, along with the video and photographic footage of a battery farm in Ontario.
