Vancouver is first cage-free olympic city
Date: July 26, 2007
Vancouver city council passes resolution requesting removal of eggs from caged hens from city food services
(Vancouver) This morning, the mayor and council of the City of Vancouver, the host of the 2010 Olympics, voted to become the first host city in the world to recommend the removal of eggs from caged hens from all city-run facilities. Council also recommended residents, including restaurants, caterers, retailers and wholesalers, choose certified organic free-range eggs. The move follows a similar decision by the neighbouring City of Richmond earlier this year.
“Council’s decision to recommend the removal of eggs produced by one of the cruellest production methods in modern agriculture clearly demonstrates that Vancouver is a city that cares about animals,” says Debra Probert, the executive director of the Vancouver Humane Society (VHS).
Approximately 98 percent of Canada’s 26 million egg-laying hens are raised in small wire cages where they can barely move and are unable to flap their wings, dust-bathe, nest or perch. Countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and the Netherlands have banned the use of battery cages, and the entire European Union will follow suit in 2012. Over 150 universities and colleges in North America have removed or reduced eggs from caged hens from campus food services. In BC, Langara College, BC Institute of Technology and Crofton House School have dropped eggs from caged hens, and UBC and SFU are set to follow suit sometime this year.
“It’s about making more humane decisions,” says Probert. “And dropping eggs from caged hens from your shopping list is a really easy way to take action for animals.”
Certified organic & BC SPCA certified eggs have the highest welfare standards, but free-range and free-run eggs also come from cage-free hens.
Photos and video footage of Canadian battery and free-range egg farms are available at www.chickenout.ca or by request.
