Another west coast state has passed legislation to improve the lives of millions of hens across the nation.
This week, Governor Kate Brown signed legislation that will require all eggs produced or sold in the state to be from cage-free operations by 2024. This victory follows the monumental passage of Proposition 12 in California last year, which prohibits the production and sale of veal, pork, and eggs from animals in extreme confinement in the state, and the success of a similar bill protecting egg-laying hens in Washington earlier this year.
This west coast wave of legislative initiatives is a strong sign that protections for farmed animals is gaining momentum in the U.S. Eleven states have passed legislation prohibiting the most extreme confinement for veal calves, pregnant pigs, and egg-laying hens. These recent efforts have aimed to take protections a step further by establishing clear minimum space requirements and extending the requirements to all products sold in the state regardless of where they originated.
Hens used in egg production in the U.S. are often confined to barren cages, each bird having less space than a single sheet of paper. They are unable to spread their wings or engage in their natural, inquisitive, and active behaviors like scratching and dust-bathing. Concern for animal welfare and extreme confinement has led several major restaurants and retailers to begin shifting their egg supply chains to cage-free.
Victories like Oregon help improve the lives of millions of animals. It is estimated that the bill will impact more than four million hens every year.
World Animal Protection helped achieve the historic Prop 12 win in 2018 and is currently working in Michigan where the state’s anti-confinement legislation is under threat. In collaboration with the large community of animal welfare advocates we will end cage confinement of farmed animals across the U.S. once and for all.