University of Rochester Student Receives National Humane Award

WASHINGTON—Today, the nation's largest animal protection organization announced that University of Rochester student Kathryn Pelka won the Award for Excellence in Student Advocacy for her role in The Humane Society of the United States' (HSUS) Cage-Free Campus Campaign. Pelka worked with dining officials to implement a cage-free egg purchasing policy for the university.

Pelka approached dining officials out of concern for animal welfare, since egg-laying hens are among the most abused animals on modern factory farms. After The HSUS provided the University of Rochester with information about how and why to implement a cage-free egg policy, dining officials were happy to begin using only these eggs in student dining facilities.

Josh Balk, outreach coordinator for The HSUS's Factory Farming Campaign, commended Pelka, stating, "Kathryn's actions demonstrate just how easy it is for one person to make a very real difference in the lives of farm animals. The HSUS hopes other students will follow Kathryn's positive example by working with their schools to discontinue their use of eggs from caged hens."

With Pelka's help, the University of Rochester joined a growing list of schools that have taken a stand against battery cages. More than eighty other schools have eliminated or dramatically decreased their use of eggs from caged hens, including Marist College, Vassar College, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dartmouth College, University of Connecticut, Georgetown University, Tufts University, University of New Hampshire and American University.

In the United States, approximately 95 percent of eggs sold come from hens confined in barren "battery cages," wire enclosures so small the birds can't even spread their wings or engage in many other natural behaviors, such as nesting, foraging, perching, and dust bathing. The cages are stacked one on top of another inside huge warehouses on factory farms. Each bird is afforded less space than a single sheet of paper on which to live, leading to extremely high levels of stress and frustration.

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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with 9.5 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, equine protection, animals in research and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country. On the web at www.hsus.org.