2015-10-01
On the eve of World Farm Animals Day, the Greens are renewing calls for truth in ‘free range’ labelling and a ban on battery cages and de-beaking of hens.
“The Greens around Australia are urging that a national legislated standard for free-range eggs be based on a stocking density of no more than 1,500 birds per hectare and a ban on the routine de-beaking of hens,” Sue Pennicuik MP, Victorian Greens animal welfare spokesperson said today.
“A legal definition of free range will end years of confusion for consumers and misuse of the free range label but for the standard to be legitimate, genuine free-range farmers, consumer rights bodies, animal experts and the general public must be consulted in the development of a national standard.
“There are an estimated 11 million battery hens in Australia and they are unable to express normal behaviours such as wing flapping, scratching, dust bathing, perching and foraging and with so many birds in one area, they can’t escape aggression from other hens.
“Scientific studies indicate that battery hens suffer intensely and continuously for the entire time they are confined in cages.
“This is unacceptable,” Ms Pennicuik said. “Free range should mean chickens can roam free, have access to the outdoors and a decent quality of life.
“Battery cages are already outlawed in the European Union and some American states and New Zealand is phasing out battery cages over the next decade.
“Research shows that 83% of Australians support or strongly support laws to ensure that animals bred for human consumption have access to the outdoors, companions, natural materials and enough space to carry out their instinctive behaviour.
"The community rightly is demanding that battery cages be banned under the law and not just left up to industry to do on a voluntary basis.
“We need stronger, uniform regulation at federal and state levels to better protect farm animals,” Ms Pennicuik said.
For further comment: Sue Pennicuik 03 9530 8399