The following bad news for hens in cages emphasizes the need for
groups like Action Animal Rescue Team(See
http://www.upc-online.org/aart) and everyone else in the world that
has any compassion for animals to break-in and rescue these hens.
They won't remove the cages, so we'll remove the hens!!
From: Glenys Oogjes <animals@melbpc.org.au>
Pressure to free the chooks to escalate - Warning from the federation
of animal groups, Animals Australia
Animal welfare groups were dismayed today after State and Territory
Agriculture Ministers failed to improve the living conditions of egg
laying hens. The decision means that hens in existing cages will not
even get more space. No phase-out date was set!
The Ministerial Council (ARMCANZ) met in Brisbane today to consider a
proposal for a phase out of the all-wire battery cages.
The resolutions to come from the meeting include
- Old cages are to be scrapped by 2008
- Newly installed cages will need to provide just 100 square cm more
- still less than an A4 page per hen!
- Existing battery cages will have a guaranteed lifetime of 20 years.
Animals Australia Executive Director, Glenys Oogjes, said: This is
exasperating. We can only guess that the Ministers accepted at face
value the inaccuracies of a desperate (caged hen) industry that is
fighting to avoid change.
Those Ministers who voted to allow hens to languish in battery cages
must deal with their own conscience. All day everyday these hens are
denied a nest, litter, space to move around freely and must step over
or move other hens even to reach the water and feeding points.
Hens will now suffer in their cages for another 20 years or more -
that's 200 million individual hens.
Don't invest or you will lose it!
The egg industry should be on notice that this 'non-decision' means
the pressure from animal welfare groups and the community will
dramatically increase. In such a climate it would be foolhardy for
any financial institute to back investment in further battery cages
and sheds. The cages will be banned in this country and it will be
to the community's timetable, not the egg industry's timetable.
During negotiations (which broke down) the egg industry insisted over
and over again that they needed 'certainty' to assist them to invest
in upgraded systems. They can now be 'certain' that if they invest
in all-wire battery cages they will need to scrap them very soon due
to the pressure that will be exerted! If they spend money to
incarcerate more hens in cages they do so at their own 'economic'
peril.
Further comment: Glenys Oogjes, Executive Director, Animals Australia
Mobile: 041 431 2552 (Currently in Brisbane)
United Poultry Concerns. August 23, 2000
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org
(Action Alert - Bad News for Australian Hens)
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