New Zealand Open Rescue

Battery hens rescued not stolen

14 October 2008
 
New Zealand Open Rescue activist Mark Eden is facing burglary charges relating to the November 2006 rescue of 20 battery hens from Turk's Poultry, an intensive egg farm in Foxton owned by Ron Turk.
 
His jury trial continues at the Palmerston North District Court from 11am today. A decision is expected this evening.
 
Eden's jury trial is the first of its kind in New Zealand. He maintains that by removing battery hens from Turks farm, he was mitigating suffering, not stealing property.
As the trial closes, Open Rescue supporters will be holding a picket outside the District Court highlighting the plight of battery hens.
 
Just under 3 million layer hens are still in cages despite overwhelming public opposition to battery farming, and over 20 years of legal campaigning by animal rights activists. Caged hens cannot run, walk, perch or dust bathe, and their skin is abraded from rubbing against the sides of the cage. Hens suffer from lack of space, stressful social crowding, and skeletal weakness.
 
In June 2006 Parliament's Regulations Review Committee found that battery farming breaches the Animal Welfare Act, and only a special intervention by Minister of Agriculture Jim Anderton allows this cruel practice to continue.
 
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