Investigation Shows the Hidden Horror of Egg Barns in Canada

"Government and industry are constantly reassuring consumers that things are better for farm animals here in Canada. We have long suspected that’s not the case and now we have the proof. This footage shows filthy, disgusting, hideously abusive conditions. The fact that the farm is owned by a veterinarian makes it even more disturbing." – Debra Probert, Vancouver Humane Society

Canada and its animal welfare scientists are always saying that Canadian producers treat their chickens and other farmed animals better than in the U.S. However, the Canadian government’s brutal extermination of 19 million birds in British Columbia to curb an avian flu outbreak in 2004, and the release, this week, of horrific footage by the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals, which shows the inside of a battery-hen operation in Ontario, tells the sordid truth.

Below is the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals Press Release. Please note that Debra Probert, Executive Director of the Vancouver Humane Society and a member of the Coalition, will be speaking at United Poultry Concerns’ 6th Annual Forum, April 8-9, 2006, in Columbus, Ohio.

Graphic undercover video and photographs showing inhumane conditions at aCanadian egg farm owned by a veterinarian will be released at a mediaconference today by the Canadian Coalition for Farm animals (CCFA), along witha report presenting scientific evidence that caging hens in egg production iscruel.

This is the first such undercover operation in Canada. The photos andvideo, taken on a farm in the Guelph area belonging to LEL Farms and owned bya veterinarian with connections to the University of Guelph, show birdscovered in excrement, birds crammed into cages so small they can barely move,birds suffering from extreme feather loss, and escaped birds left to languishon a pile of manure three feet deep. These conditions mirror crueltiesrepeatedly exposed in investigations of egg farms in the US.

"Government and industry are constantly reassuring consumers that thingsare better for farm animals here in Canada," states Debra Probert of the CCFAand executive director of the Vancouver Humane Society. "We have longsuspected that's not the case and now we have the proof. This footage showsfilthy, disgusting, hideously abusive conditions. The fact that the farm isowned by a veterinarian makes it even more disturbing."

The CCFA will use the footage to illustrate a report documenting thecruelty of overcrowding hens in battery cages for their entire lives, apractice so inhumane that many countries have outlawed it. The report draws onthe latest research into animal cognition and welfare.

The CCFA will also ask Loblaw, Canada's largest grocery retailer, tolabel all battery eggs as "eggs from caged hens" and to purchase more eggsfrom alternative systems. "All caring Canadians will be shocked when theylearn that the government and the egg industry have misrepresented conditionson Canadian factory farms," said Probert. "This is a farm with quota. There isno reason to believe that conditions are any different on any other egg farmin Canada."

International poultry expert Dr. Mohan Raj has described the images asdepicting "extreme cruelty to layer hens, which I have not seen before in myacademic career."

4-minute video footage available in BETA CAM SP & DVD format and photos on CD at the news conference, or can be seen at www.humanefood.ca

/NOTE TO PHOTO EDITORS: Two photos accompanying this release are available on the CNW Photo
Network and archived at http://photos.newswire.ca. Additional archived images are also
available on the CNW Photo Archive website at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free
to accredited members of the media/

For further information: Contact: Debra Probert - (604) 722-7796;
Stephanie Brown - (416) 920-4984

Egg laying hens are kept tightly packed in battery cages for their entire productive lives (one to two years). Due to restricted movement, feathers often chafe off leaving highly sensitive, bare skin exposed. Photo courtesy of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals. (CNW Group/Vancouver Humane Society)

Battery caged (egg-laying) hens are crowded together causing excessive feather loss and chafing. Birds on lower tiers are often covered in excrement from higher tiers. The ammonia in feces is a serious irritant to the exposed skin of hens. Photo courtesy of the Canadian Coalition for Farm Animals. (CNW Group/Vancouver Humane Society)