The Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) ran two articles the week of
December 1 on the proliferation of factory farming, including the
condition of battery-caged hens: http://www.activedayton.com/ddn/project/farm/index.html On December 11, the newspaper
published 7 letters condemning factory farming and battery cages and
promoting the intelligence of chickens and a vegetarian diet. You can
read these letters by going to www.daytondailynews.com. Below is
United Poultry Concerns President Karen Davis's published letter
which the newspaper titled "Egg-production methods unhealthy for
hens."
I appreciated Ben Sutherly's informative series on the egg industry
and the welfare issues posed by stacking hens in wire cages in
ammoniated buildings the size of football fields. ("Activists label
megafarm methods cruel," Dec. 2, and "Megafarm fights to compete,"
Dec. 3). While the egg industry's response to the welfare issues
being raised is encouraging, a tad more space in a barren cage will
not satisfy animal protectionists or the welfare needs of hens. If
hens behave "cannibalistically" even in so-called cage-free
buildings, this is because they remain too crowded, the food is
boring, and the building does not provide these active birds with
adequate stimulation.
In his Dec. 3 article, Sutherly referred to the raucous din of 85,000
chickens. Imagine how a hen feels, desperately seeking a quiet place
to lay her eggs, but unable, ever, to find that place. This negative
acoustical environment is itself a profound welfare abuse.
As far back as 1988, an article on the physiological effects of the
environment on chickens published in World's Poultry Science Journal
stated that chickens do not "habituate" to continuous noise. In the
case of thousands of battery-caged hens, the noise is not only
continuous but a continuous sound of suffering.
Chicken physiologist Lesley J. Rogers agrees. In her book The
Development of Brain and Behaviour in the Chicken (1995) she stated
that in addition to "overcrowded conditions, restricted movement, no
opportunities for decision-making, control over their own lives,
foraging, or dust bathing," hens in battery cages suffer from
"abnormal levels of sensory stimulation caused by continuous auditory
stimulation produced by the vocalizing of huge flocks housed in the
same shed." (p. 219)
It is encouraging that the public is starting to agree that forcing
chickens to live under such conditions cannot be justified by any
standard of compassion.
Karen Davis, Machipongo, Va. Ms. Davis is the author of Prisoned
Chickens, Poisoned Eggs: An Inside Look at the Modern Poultry
Industry (1996).
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org
(UPC Letter Dayton Daily News Re: Battery-Caged Hens)
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