Today CARA, owner of popular Canadian restaurants Harvey’s, Swiss
Chalet, Milestones, Kelsey’s, and East Side Mario’s, announced a commitment to improving
animal welfare by switching to 100 percent cage-free eggs in its entire supply
chain by 2020. Some brands will begin the shift this year. The policy, which
will spare countless hens a life of suffering in tiny wire battery cages, was spurred by discussions with Mercy For Animals.
heels of the announcement by Canadian icon Tim Hortons to go completely
cage-free in its Canadian, U.S., and Mexican egg supply chains by 2025.
Wendy’s, and nearly 100 other major restaurants, retailers, food manufacturers,
and foodservice companies have pledged to go cage-free at the behest of conscious consumers who are increasingly concerned about animal welfare.
used for eggs are crammed for life into tiny wire cages on factory farms. Each
bird has less floor space than the size of a sheet of notebook paper. Many
birds become trapped in the cage wire or under feed trays.
Dead hens are often left to rot alongside birds still laying eggs for human
consumption.
CARA’s announcement, it’s never been clearer that the days are
numbered for egg factory farmers who pack birds in cages so small they can’t
walk, spread their wings, or engage in other natural behaviors. It’s
high time Safeway acknowledged
that cramming birds into cages barely larger than their bodies is animal abuse
that has no place in a civilized society.