Original Article: https://blog.theanimalrescuesite.greatergood.com/arizona-goes-cage-free/

Life just got a little better for egg-laying hens in Arizona.

They will no longer live in tiny cages, known as battery cages, and will finally be able to spread their wings, peck, and socialize. All eggs sold and produced in the state will be cage-free.

The bill, HB 2724, states that the hens must be provided with “enrichments that allow them to exhibit natural behaviors, including at a minimum, scratch areas, perches, nest boxes, and dust bathing areas.”

Arizona is the 10th state to go cage-free and joins California, Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

“The regulations promulgated by the Arizona Department of Agriculture guarantee that over 7 million chickens laying eggs for the Arizona marketplace each year will never know the pain and suffering of being confined in a tiny cage,” states The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

However, cage-free does not mean cruelty-free. In 2020, when the bill was first introduced, Joyce Tischler, co-founder of the Animal Legal Defense Fund, told Phoenix New Times, “The level of improvement is going to depend upon the individuals who are raising those chickens. The question becomes, How much better is life going to get for those hens?” She said the hens will still be exposed to “putrid” air and kept inside a warehouse.

But it is a step in the right direction.

HSUS is fighting for humane conditions and treatment of all farm animals and said, “The future is undoubtedly going to be cage-free, but we’re trying to get there as soon as possible to spare billions of animals from miserable lives locked away in tiny cages. Arizona’s move brings us a little closer to that goal and is cause for celebration.”

While people commend Arizona for the new bill, many say the only humane way to raise chickens is free-range.

Source: The Animal Rescue Site Blog