WASHINGTON – The Humane Society of the United States expressed
disappointment that “guidelines” issued by the United Egg
Producers, the trade association for the egg industry, seem
designed more to mollify consumers than to address the extreme
animal welfare abuses that have become the norm in this
industry.
“We believe the egg industry still has a long way to go
before they can claim to be treating animals humanely,” said
Dr. Michael Appleby, vice president for farm animals and
sustainable agriculture for The HSUS. “We welcome the fact that
animal producers are starting to create such guidelines. The
proposal put forth recognizes that animal welfare is a
consideration, but it fails to address the worst abuses that
are standard practice in the egg industry.”
The new guidelines will reportedly increase cage space per
bird and set standards for some of the most inhumane methods
used in modern agriculture – forced molting of chickens and the
routine trimming of chicken’s beaks. However, the plan does not
specify the time line for making these reforms nor does it
state what the standards will be.
“Depriving hens of food and water and packing them in
battery cages are inherently inhumane practices that should be
immediately eliminated,” said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS senior vice
president. “The United Egg Producers is not tackling the
systematic abuses within the industry that severely compromise
the welfare of individual birds.”
The HSUS believes that forced molting should be eliminated
altogether and that beak trimming in unnecessary for caged
hens. The battery cage system should also be done away with
immediately. Egg producers in the European Union do not force
molt birds, and they must eliminate the use of battery cages by
2012.
“The industry is beginning to recognize that consumers are
concerned about the treatment of animals,” said Pacelle. “Now
it's time to adopt some substantive, rather than nominal,
reforms.”
Typical egg production buildings can house up to 140,000
birds who are kept six or seven to a cage. The cages are
stacked on top of each other to maximize the use of space. This
intensive confinement of chickens leads to health and
behavioral problems for these animals. Forced molting involves
restricting light, food and water to force chickens into a molt
cycle, which increases subsequent egg production but has also
been shown to lead to increased levels of salmonella
contamination.
