(Yet Another) Investigation Uncovers Cruelty At Australian Egg Farm
The concept of “ethical” or “high welfare” eggs might be comforting to consumers, but such disingenuous labels do nothing to comfort hens, whose suffering on egg farms all over Australia continues to be exposed.
Most recently, Animal Liberation Australia, via an anonymous source, released a stomach-turning video and multiple photos of dead and dying chickens, captured at Mountain Pride Eggs on the New South Wales Central Coast.
The eyewitness documented chickens crammed into cages, standing on the bodies of dying chickens, and surrounded by hens’ corpses in various stages of decay. Birds were also starving, and there was no water in sight. All this, despite the brand boasting that chickens are “stocked at the lowest densities” and “have access to regenerated pasture”.
It’s not the first time the abuse behind eggs has been brought to light, and it won’t be the last.
Hens Are People, Not Egg Machines
Chickens are intelligent, social individuals who enjoy chatting to their friends, foraging for delicious treats, playing, and basking in the sun. Mother hens are devoted to their chicks, clucking softly to them before they hatch and bundling them up for snuggles in their wings.
But in the egg industry, they’re denied all that’s important to them. Crammed into cages and crowded barns with no room to properly stretch their wings, hens are forced to lay far more eggs than is natural, resulting in painful reproductive issues and premature death. Some never even see sunlight until their journey to be killed.
Like us, chicken reproduction is finite, but unlike us, when hens’ fertility drops, they’re sent to slaughter. It doesn’t matter what labels are on the eggs they spend their whole miserable lives laying; all hens end up at the same slaughterhouse, having their throats slit and being dragged through electrified water baths.
Never Buy The High Welfare Lie
If you think buying “cage-free” eggs helps, think again. That’s just another “humane lie”.
Not only are egg operations boasting welfare claims repeatedly exposed for breaching the rules. And the rules aren’t great to begin with!
Under the current definition of “free range” in Australia, as many as 10,000 hens can be kept per hectare of outdoorspace. It’s this extreme crowding that helps diseases, like deadly avian flu, to spread, and is the excuse farmers use to justify mutilating birds, such as cutting off their delicate beaks and toes.
Laying hens in all systems are killed from just 18 months old. Also, all males are deemed ‘useless’ to the industry, so male chicks are killed at just a day old, either by gassing or maceration – which means blending them alive.
The only way to ensure chickens don’t suffer is to leave them and their eggs alone.
Eating Eggs Without Using Animals Is Over Easy
From scramble to cakes and even meringue, you don’t have to fund cruelty to chickens to enjoy eggy meals, because there are so many vegan options!
Tofu makes a deliciously creamy scramble, beans are the ultimate quiche filling, and mashed banana makes an excellent egg upgrade for baking projects.
And here’s a hot tip – grab some black salt to make anything taste like egg!
Be a Hero For Hens
Don’t be a complacent consumer who trusts lying labels! Make a real difference to the lives of chickens by leaving their eggs and flesh off your plate.
Take our 30-Day Vegan Challenge now and crack on with caring for all kinds.
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