Students dress up as laying hens to promote welfare eggs and oppose battery cage farming
Many people eat an egg every day, but 95% of the eggs you eat come from caged hens. The hens can only live in a space smaller than a sheet of A4 paper, and they never touch the ground in their entire lives. This morning, students from Chung Yuan Christian University, National Taiwan University, and National Taiwan Normal University put on homemade hen costumes and held a press conference with the Taiwan Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, chanting "Baoji, save the laying hens" and demanding that Council of Agriculture Minister Chen Baoji promote a welfare egg policy and gradually abolish inhumane battery cage farming. But the Council of Agriculture said welfare eggs are more expensive and consumers may find it hard to accept them; at present it is adopting voluntary counseling and certification, and seven operators have already applied.
Thirty million hens live year-round in A4-sized battery cages
After nearly half an hour of petitioning, Zhu Qingcheng, deputy director of the Council of Agriculture's Department of Animal Industry, came out under the blazing sun, shook hands with the students one by one, lifted up the iron cage, and freed the student "laying hens" trapped inside. He said animal welfare is a key priority in the Council of Agriculture's administration, but Taiwan's land area is limited, so abolishing cage farming immediately would be difficult; egg prices might rise sharply and consumers might not accept it. Education should start with consumers, he said, because where there is demand, there will be production.
The Council of Agriculture subsequently issued a press release saying that Taiwan's egg output value is about NT$19 billion a year, and the transition must be carefully evaluated, otherwise it will affect people's livelihoods and the industry chain. At present, in addition to drafting friendly egg guidelines, it has commissioned the Taiwan Agricultural Standards Association to carry out certification of friendly egg production systems, and seven operators have applied so far; this year the poultry association will hold related promotional activities to counsel farmers through the transition.
However, Chen Yumin said that a caged egg costs about NT$4 to NT$5, while a free-range egg costs about NT$10 to NT$15. If people drink just one less cup of coffee a month, they can improve the environment for laying hens. In addition, eggs laid by healthy hens have thicker shells and can be kept at room temperature for 2 months, while caged eggs can only be kept for one week. Buying friendly eggs is also an investment in one's own health.
Defending animal welfare, students sew their own clothes and dress as laying hens
In the past, animal welfare group press conferences mostly showed films and photos, but this time students joined in. Students from Chung Yuan Christian University sang a live adaptation of A-Mei's famous song "I Want Happiness," chanting "I want happiness, I want to sleep soundly, some dreams, I want to run, I want to fly," and also sewed more than 20 hen costumes themselves, showing great creativity.
Chen Xiaocheng, a senior in Chung Yuan Christian University's Department of Chemical Engineering, said that in the middle of last year he took part in a business management marketing service-learning course and came into contact with social issues. Later he decided to focus on animal welfare. At first, everyone only knew that free-range eggs and ordinary eggs were different in color, and had no idea what friendly farming was. On his first visit to a caged laying hen farm, he was "greatly shocked"; compared with free-range chickens running around, it was like hell versus heaven.
Chen Xiaocheng said that flat-raised eggs are more fragrant and the egg white is springy, unlike the watery whites of caged eggs. Since learning about the miserable situation of laying hens, he began communicating with his parents, and now his family buys friendly eggs directly from small farmers. He believes that price standards are actually a matter of habit. For example, everyone once thought NT$50 for a cup of coffee was normal, but after Starbucks appeared, everyone found that NT$150 a cup was also no problem, and friendly eggs merely reflect their cost.
In addition to petitioning and protesting, Chung Yuan Christian University will later go to Taipei Station to give presentations, cutting open friendly eggs and caged eggs on site so the public can taste them right there and promote the concept of friendly farming.