Monday, November 3, 2008

Battery hen torment.

Battery hens are to be banned in the EU from January 2012. An estimated 24 million egg laying chickens are kept in battery cages in the UK at any one time, which produce 72% of the countries supplies.

Why is legislation required to prevent a practise that gives each chicken only 450 square centimetres of floor area, equivalent to no more than an A4 sheet of paper. Are we that cruel that we condone such treatment?
I am afraid I am as guilty as many. It is so easy to push these things to the back of your mind when face with rising supermarket prices.
I think the majority of us need protecting from our own greed and selfishness. There is a danger however, that it will only drive this industry outside the EU, unless there is a ban on import of battery eggs!

6 comments:

Middle Ditch said...

I totally agree with you. Why not now? Why wait another four years? I never buy battery hen eggs but then again, they do lie on those egg boxes sometimes.

We used to have an egg man who came to our village every week to sell his free range eggs. Not anymore. Which is a shame.

BTW you are missing some great episodes at MD. We are missing you there

David John Caswell said...

Dear Middle ditch,
It is terrible when you think about the poor life of one of these chickens. Not much of an existence is it!
You put me to shame, I will be popping over to your site in just a moment. I have not been able to give much time lately to my blogging, but I hope that will change very soon.
Love David.

much2ponder said...

now there is something I've never heard of. Battery eggs. I guess most of us just go about our day giving such things little thought.

David John Caswell said...

Dear Much2ponder,
Thanks for visiting my humble blog, its great to see you again. You are so right, we are frequently so wrapped up in our own world and our own problems, we fail to see the less obvious suffering around us, often at times for our own selfish pleasure.
David.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I have never heard of that. It is terrible how some people think that torturing an innocent animal is ok. I defiantly agree, why wait four more years?

David John Caswell said...

Dear Maddie,
Great to hear from you, and so glad you agree with my perspective on the subject. I will be glad when you can't buy these eggs any more, and the penny pinching weak willed like myself will be forced to dig deeper in their pockets and pay the extra. Happy ‘New Year’ to you, and I look forward to visiting your blog again soon. Please don't be aa stranger and forgive me for my shameful slow response to you comment.
Love David.