How can RSPCA let hens suffer in cruel conditions?
I was shocked to read your report and see the associated images of 16,000 ‘free-range’ hens crammed into a shed in Norfolk. Amazingly, these conditions have been approved by the RSPCA and the hens are legally classified as ‘free range’ because the hens have access, however limited, to outside space.
This is no more than cruelty – and we’re supposed to be an animalloving nation. Hopefully people will wake up to where their food comes from and consider what they eat.
D. Courtney, Weston-super-Mare I cancelled my monthly subscription to the RSPCA a number of years ago, having experienced first-hand on two separate occasions how callous and unhelpful the charity’s inspectors can be. Your article on RSPCA-approved free-range eggs further cements my view that this animal welfare ‘charity’ does not deserve Royal patronage.
Terry McDonald-Dorman,
Darlington After watching a documentary by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall some years ago on the conditions in which chickens were being kept in barns, I decided only ever to buy freerange chicken and eggs. I was therefore very upset to read the article about how some so-called free-range chickens are being kept. It was even worse to find that the RSPCA concluded that it was satisfied with the conditions. How can this possibly be right?
Penny Smith, Guildford The pictures you showed looked terrible but the fact is that people want cheap food, be it free-range or not. And farmers will do what they can to meet this demand, while still complying with regulations but also trying to maximise their profits. Until people change their eating habits, this will continue. But I can’t see it ever happening. Mankind’s success was built on eating meat. And as long as they can afford it, people will pay to eat it.
F. Casey, London If you don’t like what you see, then only buy meat and eggs from producers that you know are treating the animals well. There’s no need for anyone to put these animals through such pitiful lives, just because they like cheap meat and eggs.
Of course, going vegetarian, like me, or even vegan, reduces further your effect on animals’ lives. A world with fewer animals bred for slaughter is a better one, not just for the animals, but for humans. Land would be freed up for more crops to be grown, feeding the hungry; people’s health would improve; the emission of greenhouse gases would fall. In fact, the list of benefits is endless.
C. Dodd, Durham