As the world celebrates a historic Presidential election in the U.S., as democrats take more seats in Congress, and, as many of us nurse our post-victory party hangovers, even chickens have a reason to celebrate. Or, at least the chickens in California.
You see, Prop 2 passed in our nation’s largest agricultural state. This law phases out some of the most restrictive confinement systems used by factory farms — gestation crates for breeding pigs, veal crates for calves and battery cages for egg laying hens. The new legislation will affect nearly 20 million farm animals in California by mandating that they have room to stand up, stretch their limbs, turn around and lie down comfortably.
The newly liberated farm animals join their freer brethren in states such as Colorado, Oregon, Florida and Arizona. The entire European Union will phase out battery cages for hens by the year 2012.
I hear that chickens in the other 45 states are beginning to organize.
Beth Bader
Beth Bader is co-author of the book, The Cleaner Plate Club. She is a passionate "Local Food" advocate and an author for the Eat Local Challenge. She loves creating healthy, family-friendly, seasonal foods, family dinners, cooking for friends, and cooking with her child. You can her at The Expatriate's Kitchen.
4 Responses to Even Chickens Have a Reason to Celebrate Today
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[...] growing movement back at home, and it’s great news that some states have begun to pass laws improving living conditions for chickens. Unfortunately, we’ve still got a long way to go before reaching the level of [...]
[...] Proposition 2: Yes – Proposition 2 creates a new state statute that prohibits the confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow [...]
WOOHOO! It’s a step in the right direction for animals.
I’m upset that Prop 8 passed though.
YES! I was SO excited about this!!!