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An Eggsasperating Situation
It’s always good news when the Farming Industry works closely with Animal Welfare Organisations for the benefit of livestock in their care. Problems arise when others don’t play by the same rules!
At the end of last year European Legislation became law making it unlawful for hens to be kept in “Battery Cages” (although slightly larger “Enriched Cages” are still allowed). Farmers in the UK spent a lot of money and made a lot of effort to comply with the new rules, however other egg producing countries including Spain, Italy and Poland have not fully complied with the ban and its now estimated that around a quarter of EU egg production is now illegal.
The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) is now launching judicial review proceedings against the Government after it refused to ban imports of eggs and egg products produced by illegally caged hens in the EU.
British egg producers have invested an estimated £400m to phase out battery cages but it is believed that millions of chickens in mainland Europe are still producing eggs from the battery system because not all EU countries have been as stringent as the UK.
It’s understood that the BEIC have written to DEFRA warning that the situation is putting thousands of UK jobs at risk, more than 50 million hens are producing more than 40 million eggs every day from battery cages putting UK egg producers at an unfair disadvantage.
It is asking the Government to give “a fuller explanation for its decision and to review its current position that the Government cannot do anything to prevent the importation of illegally produced eggs and egg products”.
BEIC chairman Andrew Parker said “British egg producers have invested heavily to meet their legal obligations and improve animal welfare. We now need our Government to support them by preventing unfair competition from producers in other countries who have not complied with the ban. EU member states have had 12 years to get their houses in order and comply with the new legislation. We are asking the Government to conduct proper checks of imported eggs, egg products and products containing eggs entering UK Ports, egg packing stations, processing plants, importers and wholesalers. Otherwise UK consumers could be eating eggs from illegal battery hens and British egg producers will be seriously undermined with the possible loss of thousands of jobs”.
Before Christmas Farming Minister Jim Paice announced that the Government aims to achieve a voluntary boycott of eggs from battery cages, by working with shops and the food industry. The Government is using this approach to stop shoppers unwittingly buying the eggs and to prevent them getting into food stuffs. The EU has not reached an agreement on enforcing the regulations across all member states, making it difficult for the UK to act unilaterally. A DEFRA spokesman said “Given the legal and financial implications of introducing such a ban, coupled with practical difficulties in enforcing it, it is not a realistic option”.
It is understood that all of our major UK Supermarket chains have put safeguards in place, however although they won’t be selling from battery hens it is much more difficult to stop egg products such as egg powder from entering into the food chain.
Animal Welfare organizations like Wetheriggs Animal Rescue & Conservation Centre are really sad about the turn of events, after years of campaigning and with the co-operation of the industry involved it’s a very sad state of affairs.
The last consignment of ex-battery hens arrived at Wetheriggs during the closing days of 2011, their feathers are already starting to grow (part of the price they paid for our cheap eggs). They are all looking for new homes if you are interested please call Wetheriggs Animal Rescue & Conservation Centre on 01768 866657.
Terry Bowes
Director, Wetheriggs
Phobia sessions
Are you scared of snakes, terrified by tarantulas or petrified of parrots? Well it sounds like you need to try one of our new phobia sessions!
Animal phobia sessions last approximately two hours and are conducted on a one to one basis with our Education Officer Matt Carr. Sessions involve a personalised program using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques and an animal meeting/handling exercise.
We can cover a vast array of animal phobias, including snakes and other reptiles, spiders, insects, horses, parrots and many other birds, rats and mice and more.
Sessions cost £45 for two hours which also includes entry into the park.
If you would like more information or would like to book a session, please call 01768 866657 or email education@wetheriggsanimalrescue.co.uk.
Calling all eBay users!
When you sell items on eBay you can choose to donate some or all of the money you receive on sales to a charity and guess what — you can choose Wetheriggs! Search for Wetheriggs Animal Rescue (or go straight to our eBay page) and select us to donate to. How cool is that?!
Hannah Bayman visits Wetheriggs — July 2010
On Saturday 31st July Hannah Bayman from BBC1’s Look North came to Wetheriggs to film local professional photographer Linda Mellor photographing some of the animals.
As Linda writes in her blog “Hannah spend around a good hour and a half with us at Wetherriggs chatting and meeting lots of the animals. In true Wetheriggs fashion many animals found us — a Gaggle of Geese waddled passed us a few times, the Macaws and Parakeets were flying around and landing by us, Lovejoy the baby Alpaca said hello. However, for me, Robyn the Eagle Owl was the star of the show! The piglets were very funny, they ran off with Hannah’s headset!”
Hannah’s report went out on Tuesday 3rd August just before the weather at 6.30pm.
HELP NEEDED Please contact us if you are able to volunteer to help with the animals, in the cafe or shop or if you would like to give a donation of money or items to sell on our charity table (no clothes or electrial items). You can donate online using PayPal® or a credit card. We also need items to help the animals, for example timber for building, water bottles, feeding bowls, cages, hutches for all types of animals.
