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treated in industrial food production. I am troubled to learn about the practice of confining egg laying hens in tiny cages. In these cages, birds cannot engage in their natural behaviors, such as spreading their wings, laying eggs in a nesting area, perching, scratching at the ground, even standing on a solid surface. Each hen has less space to live than the very sheet of paper I have written this letter on. Turning these defenseless animals into egg-producing machines with no consideration for their welfare whatsoever is a degradation of our own humanity."
"Why Eggs are a Himsak Product," by Dilip Shah, Past JAINA President, Philadelphia, USA.
"Before we even get to the question of if egg belongs on our plate, I would like to discuss how eggs get to our shopping basket.
Most of the eggs coming to markets are a product of large-scale chicken farms. These farms are in an extremely competitive business. Cutting costs and maximizing the production is the Mantra for the operators of these farms.
1. In chicken farms as in nature, all births are nearly equal in gender. 50% male and 50% female. Newborn male chicks are of no value to egg production. The operators of these farms either destroy them (by gassing or crushing) or sell them to the slaughterhouse. So egg consumption necessitates sacrifice of 50% of chicks.
2. Eggs are taken from the cages, which is a form of stealing when chickens are unaware and unable to protect their eggs - A chicken never consents to give up the egg. In fact in a free environment chicken will fight to death to save its
egg.
88.
3. For economic production, chickens are kept all their life in battery cages. Each cage is about 8 1/2" x 11". They can never roam freely or even turn around. Yes, these days there is a talk of freerange chicken where chickens do have
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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