Let them out! LIC weighs in on proposed Arizona cage-free housing delay.

Credit: We Animals Media

It’s wonderful and important that Arizona has plans to eventually require that “all egg-laying hens in this state shall be housed in a cage-free manner,” and “all eggs and egg products sold in this state shall be from hens housed in a cage-free manner.” Ariz. Admin. Code R3-2-907(E–F). This will go a long way to reduce suffering once the rule takes effect. Three cheers for freeing birds from cages!

Unfortunately, however, the Arizona Department of Agriculture’s Animal Services Division proposed a rulemaking to delay implementation of Arizona’s cage ban. That means forcing chickens to live stuck in tiny battery cages for longer. Birds kept in battery cages can’t even turn around or spread their wings.

LIC thinks Arizona should let the birds out of their cages as soon as possible.

So today, LIC submitted a comment to the Arizona Department of Agriculture. LIC’s comment explains:

We at Legal Impact for Chickens share the Arizona government’s concern about Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), or bird flu. It is a horrific disease that has made things harder for the egg industry, for consumers, and most of all, for birds.

But keeping birds in cages for longer is a counterproductive response to this outbreak. Indeed, this outbreak highlights the importance of cage-free housing: Keeping large numbers of suffering, immunocompromised animals packed so tightly together indoors is exactly what causes an airborne virus like HPAI to spread and mutate. . . .

Eliminating battery cages as quickly as possible, on the other hand, will benefit both egg-laying hens and public health.

We hope the Arizona Department of Agriculture does the right thing and lets the birds out of battery cages on the original schedule. Chickens have already suffered too much.