Before she pecked through her shell, Elsie had no idea what awaited her.
a short, miserable life of continuous egg-laying
As Elsie would soon discover, she’d had the misfortune of being born on a factory farm. Male chicks were sorted and dumped into a shredder, essentially a massive garbage disposal, since they’re useless to the egg industry. But female chicks like Elsie would eventually lay eggs, so they were allowed to live—if you could call it that.
At four months old, ready to start laying eggs, Elsie was shoved into a wire mesh “battery” cage, no bigger than a drawer, with several other hens. Unable to spread their wings or even move around, the hens coped with stress by pecking at each other. Elsie's feet developed lesions from perching on the metal bars. She had no enrichment. No sun. No dust baths. No comfort.
BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY. Together, we can pressure companies to stop this abuse.
Like you, we think that chickens should be treated as living beings—not as unfeeling machines. After all, hens are sensitive beings who feel pain, just like our beloved cats and dogs.
That’s why we’re out to eradicate battery cages from the face of this planet—not just someday, but someday within our lifetime.
It’s ambitious. But we know it’s doable.
At The Humane League, we’ve already persuaded hundreds of companies to stop caging animals—including IHOP, Applebee's, and The Campbell's Company, to name just a few. We’ve run pressure campaigns. Held peaceful protests. Driven around mobile billboards to demand that companies do better.
We’ve shown Big Ag that people don’t want animals to suffer. And in less than two decades, we’ve seen the percentage of hens living outside cages in the US skyrocket—from just 2% to 47%.
As major corporations make the switch to cage-free eggs, we get closer and closer to a tipping point—where “cage-free” becomes the norm, companies have no choice but to do better, and our broken food system gets mended, one factory farm at a time.
We’re making tangible progress for farm animals—but we can’t do it without you. Please join us!
