- Australian State & Federal Governments
In Australia more than 10 million birds are continuously confined in battery cages. Battery cages are made of wire mesh with a sloping floor. Several birds are confined together in these cages. Each bird has a floor area of only 450 cm2. Battery cages are only 40cm high, just high enough for the hens to stand up. Hens are confined continuously in battery cages on average for more than a year.
Battery cages do not allow hens to behave naturally. The hens cannot preen their feathers, stretch out, or flap their wings, and they may have difficulty turning around. Battery cages do not provide the hen with a perch, litter or material for dust bathing or a suitable area for laying. The mesh floors of battery cages can cause serious damage to feet and claws. The restricted movement and lack of exercise can also cause skeletal and muscle weakness causing hens to develop osteoporosis.
Evidence from research into hen welfare indicates that battery hens suffer intensely and continuously throughout their confinement in cages. Chronic frustration of normal behaviours and acute suffering during the pre-laying period are caused by frustration of nesting behaviour.
There are humane alternatives to the battery cage system in the form of barn and free-range housing systems. These systems overcome the problems associated with confinement in battery cages by allowing hens to behave naturally.
Sign this petition if you too think that such a system is cruel. Help us stop their suffering.
To the elected Members of the House of Representatives assembled in the Australian Federal and State Parliaments:
We the undersigned petition that all members take action to phase out and eventually ban the use of battery cages in hen farms.
The Ban the use of Battery Cages petition to Australian State & Federal Governments was written by Jeb McAviney and is in the category Animal Rights at GoPetition.