6-11 IAN Bigger Cages

 New legislation being pushed by the Humane Society of  the United States and the United Egg Producers would replace science-based animal care practices with a strict government mandate according to livestock policy specialist Kelli Ludlum. The primary aim of the bill is to double the size of cages for egg laying hens. “That doesn’t sound like a bad thing obviously, more space for birds sounds like a very good thing. The problem is that  sometimes giving animals too much space can actually be detrimental to animal welfare. It allows them more room to fight, it allows larger birds to over consume feed while smaller birds may not get enough feed so we have worked out the size of these animal confinement facilities for a very specific purpose based on veterinary expertise and the technical expertise of animal scientists to maximize the welfare for the animals.” But Ludlum says consumers would definitely be pinched by the proposed changes. For example in Europe where some of these measures have been implemented: “Egg prices have increased dramatically because producers have had to cut back on the number of birds.  There is no more land to double facility size. So they cut back dramatically on the number of birds, that cuts back on egg production, the demand is still there but the supply is cut in half and so where eggs are even available the prices have skyrocketed.  The United egg producers own figures estimate that it will be $4 billion to implement the changes.