Egg farms should stop caging hens

Re “Fire writes the final chapter for the world’s largest egg ranch,” Dec. 17

The abandoned Egg City in Ventura County is now laid to rest, but hundreds of massive U.S. factory farms still employ the same cruel practices as this facility did. Across the country, factory farms confine nearly 300 million egg-laying hens inside wire cages so small that each bird has less space than a sheet of typing paper. These social, intelligent animals cannot spread their wings, perch, dust, bathe or even walk. Their lives are filled with suffering. Because of these welfare problems, more than 100 U.S. schools and companies have moved away from the use of eggs from caged birds. The egg industry should follow the lead of these socially responsible institutions and end its use of cages.

ERIN WILLIAMS

Washington

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The writer is an outreach coordinator for the Factory Farming Campaign of the Humane Society.