Activists to spend night chained to battery hen farm

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Sun, 20 Feb 2011 6:11p.m.

Police won't say when they'll remove the activists (NZPA)

Police won't say when they'll remove the activists (NZPA)

By Kim Choe

Animal welfare activists have chained themselves to silos on a battery farm in South Auckland to highlight the plight of battery hens.

They say a proposed code for housing egg-producing hens doesn't protect the birds, and want cages banned altogether.

Police have issued them with a trespass notice but won’t say when they’ll move in to arrest them.

Before light this morning, the protesters scaled the feed silos of this battery egg farm and chained themselves there – saying they’d stay until forcibly removed.

“The key issue that we’re concerned about is just drawing attention to the plight of battery hens and calling for a ban on cages,” says protesters Deidre Sims.

The Coalition to End Factory Farming went inside a farm late last year, filming what they say were shocking but typical conditions.

A draft welfare code for keeping egg-laying hens is open for public submissions until March. It proposes replacing the battery cages with shared “colony cages”. Activists say that’s not good enough.

“What it comes down to is really, a cage is a cage, they’re standing on wire flooring and they’re suffering,” says Ms Sims.

“They can’t carry out their basic behaviours. They can’t stretch their wings or move around really in a way that they should be able to.”

The Egg Producers’ Federation disagrees.

In a video posted on their website, a British scientist says the colony cages are more spacious than they look.

The federation wouldn’t appear on camera, but said in a statement it supports phasing out battery cages.

However, it emphasised the change must be gradual, because of the enormous cost involved.

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Comments

16 Mar 2011 04:51p.m.

Uts wrote:

Western greed is frequently translated into something that sounds like - "I refuse to pay the full price!" Therefore animals must pay, or workers in third world countries must pay, or the environment must pay. Just as long as Mr Greedy or Mrs Entitled doesn't have to pay. We live in a culture of 5 year olds - "I want it! And I don't care about the consequences!" It's time to grow up.

21 Feb 2011 10:23p.m.

Rebecca wrote:

I'm fully in support of these people. To cage any animal in such a way is obvious cruelty. To those who support such a practice I suggest you really take a good look at some footage of how these hens are treated, then let your conscience decide. .

21 Feb 2011 03:34p.m.

Ben wrote:

The price of food is getting way too high, caged eggs are a good reasonable priced food. I don't want these protesters forcing changes in the chook industry that will make eggs more expensive. 88% of eggs sold in NZ are from caged hens, the people have already spoken.

21 Feb 2011 07:19a.m.

Amber wrote:

Hey anne, have you tried nuts, beans, lentils, tofu as sources of protein? They're all pretty cheap sources too. A great deal of the population live without the sources of protein you describe, believe me, you won't die if you give it up.

21 Feb 2011 04:07a.m.

anon wrote:

HEROES. May God bless them. Should be more fantastic people like this. Factory farming is a great evil that must be phased out entirely. The suffering of the animals, who have feelings, is unspeakable and unending, could you go through it from birth to death? Would any amount of money be worth it? These animals give us their lives, their bodies, their children, the least we can do is give them SOME comfort and kindness, because we owe them big time.

20 Feb 2011 10:42p.m.

Anne wrote:

Am 79 years old. Can no longer afford any red meat. My only protein comes from eggs and chicken. These ideaisic prats protest will cause my demise. Ask them to think about their Grandparents and their protein needs. But young people today are so selfish that "Grandie's" today are a blot on the landscape - but we may have money.Ho Hum - Anne

20 Feb 2011 10:39p.m.

katrina wrote:

I only buy free-range. People must vote with their buying power

20 Feb 2011 10:20p.m.

Davo wrote:

I believe the fault with animal rights lies with us humans. Not because we are cruel and inhumane - on the contrary, we are far too kind for our own good. We are an apex species, which means that, irrespective of our propensity to succumb to our conscience, we are quite at liberty to do as we see fit with the animal world. It's time we established our rightful place in the world - who cares how these animals are treated, let's look out for ourselves for once and do away with the animal rights movement.

20 Feb 2011 09:35p.m.

Miss Marple wrote:

Put the owners into cages, and see how they like it. These protesters should be given medals. The egg farmers should be sent to prison.

20 Feb 2011 06:43p.m.

chris wrote:

I am tired to hear that it is too expensive too treat hens decently. It seems it is too expensive to have a decent live nowadays. Social justice, fair trade, decent environment, jobs, animal welfare, health,state assets...everything is too expensive. What a terrible world do they want us to afford? Well done SAFE, well said Deirdre! Remember that everybody who buys gaged eggs is responsible.