Senator wants to give hens living room
Bill would require more space for caged egg-laying hens
By PATRICK JACKSON
The News Journal

01/31/2006
DOVER -- Caged and confined in big chicken houses, Delaware's egg-laying hens should at least be given enough room to spread their wings, Sen. Karen Peterson says.

Peterson, D-Stanton, last week introduced a bill requiring farmers now using "battery cages" until January 2010 to give egg-laying hens enough room to spread their wings without touching the edges of their cage. Violators would be fined between $200 and $500 a day. It provides exceptions for farmers transporting their birds to a veterinarian's office or to slaughter...
http://www.midstateliving.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060131/MIDSTATE15/601310347/1166

that's a step in the right direction

I like it :)

Good. :up:

Not to be the wet blanket or anything, but now let's see what its chances of passing are.

Not to be the wet blanket or anything, but now let's see what its chances of passing are.

Senators and normal people, not freaky vegetarians, or them vay-guns, talking about how inhumane the egg industry is in the news. How could that be bad even if it doesn't pass? Baby steps are better than no steps.

Oh, I'm certainly not saying it's bad-- you're absolutely right that when a senator considers animal welfare issues important enough to introduce a bill, that's great news. I'm just not confident that enough OTHER senators care enough about these issues that anything will come of it. But it's a start, all right.

Seems like a step in the right direction. Hopefully those kinds of laws will spread.

I keep picturing a bunch of hens sitting on a couch and watching TV. :p

I keep picturing a bunch of hens sitting on a couch and watching TV. :p
Hang on to that image. The UEP (http://www.unitedegg.org/animal_care.aspx) response bot will drop by shortly to reinforce it.

One more note: it appears that the person bringing this issue to light is a state senator, not a senator to Congress. I think it's therefore only a Delaware issue for now. We can certainly hope that the issue gets some national attention, though, and any publicity about this is a good thing.