Bay Area Animal Group to Screen Rare Agribusiness Industry Footage

In order to expose this blatant violation and publicly ask why local enforcement of 597t is largely absent in California, East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) is inviting the media to a special screening of a ten-minute film documenting the living conditions of egg-laying hens in California. Footage includes shocking conditions at egg facilities in Sonoma, Santa Clara, Merced and San Diego counties.

The documentary also includes rare footage showing the egg industry’s mistreatment of “spent” hens— birds whose egg production begins to drop off between 18 and 20 months of age. These “spent” hens are slaughtered for second-grade meat, without any protections under California’s 1990 Methods of Slaughter law. There is no legal requirement for humane handling of spent laying hens, nor is there any requirement that they be rendered insensible to pain before slaughter.

“Lack of humane enforcement and legal loopholes in California egg production have a detrimental effect on animal welfare,” explains Christine Morrissey, EBAA director. “Without a major overhaul of egg-production practices, California’s huge population of egg-laying hens will continue to suffer enormously.”

Join EBAA for this special screening on Wednesday, January 25 at 7:00 p.m. at Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street (between Telegraph & Broadway) in Oakland.

East Bay Animal Advocates is a non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. California is home to one of the most industrious and concentrated animal agriculture areas in the world. Exposing animal cruelty in modern agriculture is of utmost importance to EBAA. Through direct aid and education outreach, EBAA is dedicated to fighting and preventing animal abuse in California's agricultural industry.

For more information: http://www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org.