The San Bernardino County prosecutor filed four dozen animal cruelty charges against an egg farm in Ontario, Calif., where thousands of hens were found in “inhumane” conditions, said the Los Angeles Times. The Humane Society of the United States said it was the first time charges were brought under the voter-enacted Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty law, also known as Proposition 2.
Farmer Robert Hohberg and his farm, Hohberg Poultry Ranches, was charged with 39 misdemeanor violations of the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty law and 16 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, said the Los Angeles Times. Hohberg was scheduled to appear in San Bernardino Superior Court on March 7. Prop. 2 required poultry farmers to give birds enough space to stand, sit down, turn around and fully extend their wings.
The district attorney’s office began an investigation into the farm after a complaint a year ago by the Inland Valley Humane Society. Officials found 28,000 hens in unsanitary and overcrowded cages, a deputy district attorney told the Los Angeles Times. In some instances, hens were found laying eggs among dead chicken, the official told the newspaper.