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Nearly fifteen months after uncovering unspeakable cruelty at Ohio’s largest
egg factory farms, Mercy For Animals investigators have again gone
undercover behind closed doors to shed light on the inherent cruelties of battery cage facilities. The investigation began in December, 2002 after Weaver Brothers Egg Farm, located in Versailles, Ohio, failed to respond to a certified letter requesting a tour and expressing concern over the farm’s treatment of hens. Following stringent industry-guideline bio-security measures, and armed with video and photo equipment, MFA investigators made nighttime visits to the factory documenting case after case of animal neglect and abuse.
MFA investigators discovered hens caked in feces packed into crowded, filthy wire cages so small they could not spread a single wing, diseased hens suffering from untreated growths and infections, hens trapped in the wire of their cages without access to food or water, dead bodies left to rot in cages with birds still producing eggs for human consumption, and a live hen thrown away in a trash can filled with rotting corpses.
Like over 95% of the hens raised for egg production in the United States, the hens at Weaver Brothers are confined to “battery cages”— small wire cages stacked in tiers and lined up in rows in huge warehouses. With up to 7 hens per cage, each bird is allowed less than half a square foot of space, less than 3/4 the area of a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper.
Hens confined to battery cages live day in and day out without ever seeing the sun. The ability to walk freely, fully stretch their wings, perch, roost, or dust bathe, become impossible tasks. The battery cage frustrates every natural instinct and reduces these naturally clean animals to living in the excrement of their cage mates.
Ending institutionalized animal abuse is as simple as making humane and compassionate food choices. Adopting a vegan diet is a healthy and powerful way of taking a stand against farmed animal abuse. To order a free vegan starter kit, please visit www.MercyForAnimals.org or call 937-652-8258.
MFA investigators discovered hens caked in feces packed into crowded, filthy wire cages so small they could not spread a single wing, diseased hens suffering from untreated growths and infections, hens trapped in the wire of their cages without access to food or water, dead bodies left to rot in cages with birds still producing eggs for human consumption, and a live hen thrown away in a trash can filled with rotting corpses.
Like over 95% of the hens raised for egg production in the United States, the hens at Weaver Brothers are confined to “battery cages”— small wire cages stacked in tiers and lined up in rows in huge warehouses. With up to 7 hens per cage, each bird is allowed less than half a square foot of space, less than 3/4 the area of a standard 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper.
Hens confined to battery cages live day in and day out without ever seeing the sun. The ability to walk freely, fully stretch their wings, perch, roost, or dust bathe, become impossible tasks. The battery cage frustrates every natural instinct and reduces these naturally clean animals to living in the excrement of their cage mates.
Ending institutionalized animal abuse is as simple as making humane and compassionate food choices. Adopting a vegan diet is a healthy and powerful way of taking a stand against farmed animal abuse. To order a free vegan starter kit, please visit www.MercyForAnimals.org or call 937-652-8258.