New Zealand's Green Party said it will join animal rights groups to call on the government to end the use of colony cages for layer hens. The Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RNZSPCA) and Save Animals From Exploitation (SAFE) plan to announce their opposition to the cages in a press conference on Wednesday. Green Party animal welfare spokesperson Sue Kedgley says the party will join the animal welfare groups in petitioning Minister of Agriculture David Carter to reject the cages. The Government is considering colony cages as a replacement for battery cages, as recommended by the draft Code of Animal Welfare, but the RNZSPCA say “a cage is a cage is a cage” and there will be no improvement in the hens' living conditions. The groups say the egg industry should be moving to free-range or barn systems instead of cages. “Colony cages offer no significantly better conditions for hens than those they are currently enduring,” RNZSPCA chief executive Robyn Kippenberger says. SAFE director Hans Kriek says the cages have the same “basic welfare problems” as battery cages and must not be legalized in New Zealand. Animal welfare experts consider colony cages offer no better conditions for hens than those in battery farms, Ms Kedgley says. “If people saw colony cages close up they would be horrified,” she says. “I've seen hens in these colony cages – and they are really no different to battery hen cages – they are just as unspeakably cruel.” BM
