Animal welfare groups, egg farmers reach chicken cage accord; but some say the sky is falling

[Tim Gier]

Animal welfare groups, egg farmers reach chicken cage accord; but some say the sky is falling

FRESNO, Calif. — The animal welfare advocates who gave egg-laying hens more room to roam on California farms are trying to expand chicken coops across the nation with an unlikely ally — a group that previously had been their biggest opponent.

The effort to increase cage sizes for the 270 million laying hens in the U.S. is a compromise bill working its way through Congress supported by the Humane Society of the United States and the United Egg Producers, the industry’s largest advocacy group.

The improbable alliance has formed amid a nationwide push by some consumers, grocers and restaurants to improve living conditions for farm animals that provide food for the table.

The Humane Society championed efforts to pass Proposition 2 in California in 2008 to get egg-laying hens out of cramped cages and put them in larger enclosures that give them room to stretch, perch, scratch and flap their wings.

The United Egg Producers fought that effort vigorously, opposing the changes as needless and expensive. But now the industry group is working with its former foe to head off more voter initiatives in other states that would cause a confusing array of regulations for producers who ship across state borders.

Please read the entire article here.

[Tim Gier]

Here's an editorial published today about the issue: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20120608_Chicken_and_egg_debat...