Canyon Ranch, one of the world's most renowned resorts, is hatching a new policy for the food it offers its visitors. The company's Tucson, Ariz., and Lenox, Mass. locations are switching to the exclusive use of cage-free eggs in their dining facilities, a move that The Humane Society of the United States praised as a good way to help improve animal welfare.

The resort has chosen to completely eliminate the use of eggs from caged hens, effective October 1, 2007. The two properties use 200,000 eggs each year.

Scott Wraith, corporate food purchasing director for Canyon Ranch, states, "Canyon Ranch is proud that the only kind of eggs on our menu is cage-free. We believe confining hens in cages is inhumane, and we are sensitive to many of our guests' concerns for sustainability and animal welfare."

Paul Shapiro, senior director of The HSUS' factory farming campaign, comments, "The Humane Society of the United States commends Canyon Ranch's leadership in helping prevent one of the worst factory farm abuses. We encourage other resorts and spas to follow its positive example."

Facts

• U.S. factory farms confine nearly 300 million hens in barren battery cages that are so small, the birds can't even spread their wings. Each bird has less space than a single sheet of paper on which to live.
• There is a snowballing national movement against battery cages. Burger King is beginning to use cage-free eggs. Wolfgang Puck is ending his use of cage eggs. Several grocery chains, including Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace, have stopped selling cage eggs. Companies such as AOL and Google have ended the use of cage eggs in their employee cafeterias.
• While cage-free does not mean cruelty-free, cage-free hens generally have 250-300 percent more space per bird and are able to engage in more of their natural behaviors than are caged hens. Cage free hens may not be able to go outside, but they are able to walk, spread their wings, and lay their eggs in nests—all behaviors permanently denied to hens confined in battery cages.

Timeline

• August 2007—West Palm Beach, Fla. becomes the seventh city to unanimously pass a bill condemning battery cages and encouraging egg consumers not to purchase cage eggs.
• April 2007—Omni Hotels announces that it is phasing in the exclusive use of cage-free eggs.
• March 2007—Burger King announces that it has started phasing in the use of cage-free eggs in its North American locations.
• March 2007—Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck announces that he will no longer use eggs from caged hens.
• November 2006—In a landslide, Arizona voters pass an HSUS-led initiative banning gestation crates and veal crates in the state (effective 2013).
• September 2006—Ben & Jerry's announces that it will phase out the use of eggs from caged hens in all its ice creams.
• May 2005—Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace announce that they have ended sales of eggs from caged hens.
• November 2003—The Better Business Bureau rules that it is misleading to label eggs from battery-caged hens as "Animal Care Certified."

-30-

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization—backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty—on the web at humanesociety.org.