Writers,
This piece appeared in today's daily as a response to the piece by
Animal Science professor Jacquie Jacob's piece before the break. The
Daily will probably not publish follow-up letters on this, but if you
want to say "Thanks!" for publishing this, send that comment to
letters@mndaily.com. The reader's representative monitors this address
and makes not of which stories people like.
Jason
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Subject: umntc-s: MN Daily: Cages not the heaven they?re made out to be
http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2006/03/20/67573
March 20, 2006
Cages not the heaven they?re made out to be
Jacob?s defense of confining birds to battery cages is
misleading at best.
By Christopher D. Patterson
1his column is in response to Jacquie Jacob?s March 8 guest column, ?The
Welfare of the Laying Hen: The Caged versus Cage-Free Debate.? As a
veterinarian who is familiar with animal agriculture practices, I was
surprised to read Jacob?s defense of battery cages.
Jacob asserts it is ?misleading? to say each bird has ?space equivalent
to a single sheet of paper? and that it is ?relative? because each hen
weighs about three and a half pounds. In actuality, each bird has even
less space than a sheet of paper in which to live. The standard today in
the battery-cage egg industry is approximately 61 square inches of space
per bird, although the University?s producer provides even less space
than this standard. A piece of paper is 93.5 square inches, so each of
these birds has less space than a sheet of paper. Furthermore, it is
?misleading? to imply that it is humane and sufficient to overcrowd
these social animals into small, barren wire cages where they are denied
participation in even the most basic hen behaviors for their entire
existence. Jacob also mentions the lack of standards for cage-free egg
production. Yet, the Certified Humane Raised & Handled egg producer
standards that the University is considering are audited for compliance
with rigorous, science-based standards. In fact, the scientists who
created these animal welfare standards (which of course prohibit battery
cages) are some of the most reputable animal husbandry professionals in
the country.
Dr. Bernard Rollin, a professor of animal science at the University of
Colorado, writes, ?Virtually all aspects of hen behavior are thwarted by
battery cages: social behavior, nesting behavior, the ability to move
and flap wings, dustbathing, space requirements, scratching for food,
exercise, pecking at objects on the ground ... The most obvious problem
is lack of exercise and natural movement.?
So far, the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, the University
Dining Services Student Advisory Board and the Council of Graduate
Students here voted to urge dining services to adopt a cage-free eggs.
The Daily has editorialized in favor of going cage free. It is
unfortunate that UDS is siding with factory farmers instead of
responding to student demand for improved animal welfare.
/
Christopher D. Patterson is a veterinarian in the Richmond, Va., area.
Please send comments to letters@mndaily.com
/
--
Gregory Oschwald
Compassionate Action for Animals
http://www.ExploreVeg.org/
(612)626-5785 (office)
(612)270-5696 (cell)
greg@ca4a.org
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