03/30/02 Easter
Animal Friends reported the case of animal abuse on the occasion of Easter holidays
SUFFERING BECAUSE OF HOLIDAYS?!
With the Easter holidays around the corner, Animal Friends wants to inform the public about the suffering of animals which end up on dinner tables, and about the case we reported to the police and veterinary inspection.
At 11 A.M., on Saturday, March 30, 2002, we will set an info stand on Starcevic Square, right next to Importanne Center.
Concerning the case of animal abuse, it took place in florist store "Cicak" on Petretic Square where the owner put a hen and several chickens in a shop window as a "decoration." We think it is an appalling case of humiliating of the animal, and also the abuse of hen which spends her Easter holidays in glass shop window exposed to sunlight, passers-by and cars which constantly move by the shop.
As the shop has neither license nor conditions for keeping of animals, and therefore violates Animal Welfare Act, we reported this case to 5th police station and to sanitary inspection.
The goal of this report is to stop possible trend of using live animals as decoration in shop windows during these and any future holidays. Animals go through so much suffering; do they need additional humility – we wonder?
EGG-SYMBOL OF EASTER AND HEN SUFFERING
Millions of egg-laying hens are locked up in narrow wire cages with one purpose only- laying of eggs. They spend their whole lives cramped in cages living on a surface the size of A4 paper, and are not even able to spread their wings. All of them are previously de-beaked, meaning part of their beaks are sliced off with a red hot blade, because due to conditions they live in, they get frustrated and end up attacking one another. The cages are made of wire that cuts into their legs and plucks their feathers, because of which they have wounds, scabs and furuncles all over their bodies. Farmers ignore their physical and mental agony completely by keeping them under artificial lighting instead of the sunlight, up to 22 hours a day, so that they would eat more and therefore gain weight faster. Moreover, they are constantly exposed to the stink of their own excrement, their cages never stand straight and they are known to suffer from a large number of medical conditions, such as permanent feet deformity, "egg-laying hens' fatigue" - a disease that also results in bone weakness, "seacoast syndrome" - results in watery egg whites, "fear and hysteria syndrome" and "fat liver syndrome" that can be fatal because of the bleeding of liver. Farmers tend to solve these problems with number of dangerous medicines that increase animals' suffering and also endanger the health of humans.
Also, egg-laying hens have to go through forced molting in order to increase the period of laying eggs and the size of eggs. They have to suffer through all of these procedures until they reach the period in which their exhausted bodies are no more capable of laying eggs.
More information and a leaflet about egg-industry can be found on our info stall.
