End the Cage Age
Do you know where your food comes from? Have you ever questioned how you can possibly buy a chicken breast for under a euro?
“Factory farming is so horrific that if people knew what really goes on within the walls of those windowless sheds, they would likely reject the products they produce—which is precisely why the industrial animal agriculture industry has gone to such great lengths to hide the truth at all costs” - The Human League.
Copyright: Four Paws
When working for the ISPCA, I came across this initiative to end cage farming in Europe - End the Cage Age. The ISPCA are just one of many partners that supported this groundbreaking campaign for European animals.
Over 300 million farmed animals suffer in cages across Europe. This includes 2 million in Ireland! (for reference we have a human population of just under 5 million). We had beer mats in the office used for the campaign. The beer mats represented the size of a typical cage where factory farm birds are kept.
Objectives of the campaign:
Over 170 organisations and caring citizens across Europe joined forces to spearhead the End the Cage Age European Citizens’ Initiative.
A European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a powerful way to influence lawmakers in Europe.
Over 1.5 million people signed this petition making it 3rd ECI with the highest signature count and 1st valid ECI for farmed animal welfare!
This movement is representative of the 94% of people in Europe who believe protecting the welfare of farm animals is important, and 82% who believe farm animals should be better protected.
Hundreds of millions of EU farm animals are kept in cages for most of their lives, causing great suffering. We call on the European Commission to end this inhumane treatment of farm animals. Cages inflict suffering on enormous numbers of farm animals every year. They are cruel and unnecessary, as higher-welfare cage-free systems are viable.
The Commission is therefore invited to propose legislation to prohibit the use of:
• cages for laying hens, rabbits, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese;
• farrowing crates for sows;
• sow stalls, where not already prohibited
• individual calf pens, where not already prohibited
(a sow is an adult female pig that has one or more litter. A sow stall is a metal cage – usually with a bare concrete/slatted floor – which is so narrow that the sow cannot turn around, and she can only stand up and lie down with difficulty. Sow stalls deprive pregnant sows of almost all natural behaviours; they cannot explore, exercise, forage or socialise.)
**On September 11th, 2019 the official European Citizens’ Initiative closed successfully reaching over 1 million citizens who supported the cause. Now, the signatures will go through an official validation procedure to ensure their eligibility. Finally, the validated signatures will be handed over to the EU Commission after which they have to answer our call.
“Farmed animals have never had so many people standing up for them. From caged hens who long to stretch their wings to sows who want to mother their piglets unconfined, and rabbits who deserve the space to hop – each one of them now has a better chance in life, thanks to you.”
For more information about this issue and to take action, please visit:
https://www.endthecageage.eu/
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/end-the-cage-age-european-citizens-initi/product-details/20210325ECI00041