Thanks to all your efforts, farmed animals in Michigan have gained greater protections.
Today, Michigan just passed into law a bill improving welfare protections for egg laying hens in the state and throughout the country and safeguarded the welfare of many other farmed animals. This follows months of your actions on behalf of Michigan’s farmed animals and the work of our coalition partners.
World Animal Protection started work on SB 174 in April when it came to our attention that the proposed law included a repeal of the state’s 2009 legislation prohibiting extreme confinement of veal calves, sows, and hens. Our Michigander supporters took action and the repeal was stopped.
But that’s not all. Thanks to your efforts, the production and sale of eggs from battery cage operations will be illegal in Michigan after the end of 2024!
As an important state for U.S. agriculture with substantial egg production, the bill will improve the lives of 15 million hens each year after implementation and it will safeguard the welfare of more than 100,000 other animals.
This victory comes shortly after several other wins World Animal Protection and our animal allies have achieved for farmed animals in the past few years, including California’s Proposition 12 in 2018 and bills for egg-laying hens in Washington and Oregon that passed earlier this year.
The new language that strengthens protections for Michigan’s egg-laying hens to Prop 12-levels gives hens even more space and bans the sale of any caged eggs in the state.
This bill is a critical step towards getting all farmed animals out of cages.
A huge thank you to all our supporters in Michigan who helped move this bill forward!