COK battle won over United Egg Producers and live hens being thrown out at egg-laying farm

The grass roots Washington DC based animal advocacy group "Compassion Over Killing" has won its battle against United Egg Producers and the Animal Care Certified labels stamped on more than 80% of egg cartons sold in the USA. The Better Business Bureau deemed the labels misleading and referred the matter to the Federal Trade Commission in 2004. The FTC has ruled that the label be removed from all United Egg Producers cartons by March 31, 2006. You can read more about the ruling at http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051003/nym135.html?.v=23 and please visit http://www.EggScam.com to see shocking photos of living conditions of hens whose eggs are being sold under that label.

Coinciding with that news, a front page story in the Sunday, October 2, St Louis Post-Dispatch shed some light on the suffering of egg-laying hens. It is headed, "Charges cast doubt on egg firm's plan." The title refers to an egg farms attempts to expand, while charges are pending against some of its workers. The article tells us that a neighbor of the Moark egg factory "saw workers dumping a mix of live and dead chickens into a tractor trailer, and he videotaped them."

We learn that Moark "is the nation's third largest egg producer and is owned by Land O'Lakes and an investment group begun by the man who created the company in southwest Missouri in 1965. The company sells eggs under the names of Eggland's Best and Land O'Lakes All-Natural Farm Fresh Eggs.

The division manager "didn't deny that live chickens were thrown away with dead ones." The article explains, "In the industry, hens that no longer produce eggs are called 'spent hens.' Moark guidelines call for spent hens to be euthanized in a 55-gallon drum with carbon monoxide." But the manager explains that the workers "just weren't being patient."

Note: The company's too-loosely followed guidelines might call for gassing with Carbon Monoxide, but chickens are excluded from the federal Humane Slaughter Act. They may be offered protection under state anti cruelty statutes but it is difficult to prosecute "standard industry practice." Those practices generally involve killing egg-laying hens by the cheapest means available, with no regard for their suffering. A 2003 Los Angeles Times op-ed by Peter Singer and myself discussed the killing of 30,000 hens by feeding them into a woodchipper. You'll find it on line at http://www.dawnwatch.com/oped-december1-2003.htm

The Post Dispatch article tells us that in this case misdemeanor charges of animal abuse were filed and are pending against the three workers caught throwing away live animals. That is a welcome development, since charges were not filed against the farmers in the woodchipper case or after workers at a KFC supplier in West Virginia were videotaped throwing live chickens against a wall and jumping up and down on top of them. But we do not yet know the outcome of the Moark case.

You can read the whole Post Dispatch article on line at http://tinyurl.com/8cojf It presents a great opportunity for letters to the editor on the treatment of animals raised for food. The Post Dispatch takes letters at letters [at] post-dispatch.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Shorter letters are more likely to be published.

The United Poultry Concerns website is an excellent resource for any issues regarding the treatment of birds raised for food. \ See http://www.upc-online.org


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)