Animal welfare activists, led by the Humane Society of the United States, have filed papers in California to introduce an initiative that would make all eggs cage-free in the state by 2022.
The initiative comes nine years after 63.5 percent of voters passed Proposition 2, mandating that hens have 116 square inches of space. The goal of that earlier legislation, also pushed by animal rights activists, was to ensure hens were raised out of cages. But two-thirds of California hens remain caged, because producers could adhere to the minimum space requirements simply by putting fewer chickens in each cage.
“The new initiative sets the standard initially at 144 square inches per bird — one square foot — which is the level at which a hen is considered by activists to be cage free,” says the LA Times. Veal calves would also have to be taken out of cages by 2020, and pigs by 2022.
To earn a place on the ballot, activists will have to secure 365,880 signatures within 180 days or the state legislature could pass the initiative in committee.
“Egg production is a $1-billion industry in California, with some 15.5 million egg-laying hens producing nearly 5 billion eggs annually, mostly on family-owned farms,” says the Times.