Hundreds of Animals’ Lives Saved By Kindness of Strangers

A group of Dunedin vegans and animal lovers, who have also been joined by another group from Invercargill, have been steadily saving the lives of hundreds of egg laying hens which would otherwise have been killed, by finding loving ‘forever homes’ for them.

A commercial egg farm in the Dunedin area, which formerly held as many as 10 thousand birds at any given time, is closing down after 40 years of business. Although only 3 thousand birds remained at the time the local animal lovers heard about it, they decided to save as many birds as they could through their various networks.

A poster they shared on Facebook went viral, with hundreds of shares in a very short time, and then the phone calls and texts started streaming in!

Most of the rescuers involved are vegan, and therefore, in keeping with their philosophy of reducing harm to animals as much as is practically and realistically possible, they have tried to find the best homes they can for these birds.

The woman in charge of the rescue effort, Tayla O’Driscoll has been asking people to consider a no-kill philosophy, and has encouraged them to think of the hens, not just as egg-producing machines, but also as potential companions.

The rescuers know that many of the birds have had a pretty hard life, due to the intensive nature of modern factory farming methods. They feel that the birds deserve another shot at life, rather than being discarded, as is usually the case in the egg industry. They have been heartened by the positive response from the public.

“Hens make great companions; they really become part of the family. We care about all animals, so it’s really important that the hens go to homes with lots of love and understanding. The majority of the hens will be rescued from cages and will require extra attention and care. They’ve really had a rough time, continuously laying eggs in a stressful environment, so we just want them to be able to live out the rest of their lives in peace.” Ms. O’Driscoll said.

“The response from people has exceeded our expectations: so far we have found homes for around 500 hens. It’s really reassuring to see how many Kiwis care about animals and want to give the hens a good life.” she added.

The remaining hens need to find homes by the end of June, or they will be killed. If anyone wants to help rehome some hens, they can contact Tayla at taylalala.16@gmail.com

ENDS

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