UPC Demands RI Egg Farm to Cease Production
02 September 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- A Rhode Island egg farm is being charged with starving hens in order to force them to molt their feathers, which is believed to expedite egg production.
On 12 August the United Poultry Concerns (UPC) sent a letter to the owner of Little Rhody Egg Farms, located in Foster, Rhode Island. UPC President Karen Davis asked Eli Berkowitz to cease production due to reports that Berkowitz was willfully starving the hens.
According to UPC, the hens have lost 15 to 20 percent of their body weight. Despite the confrontation, Berkowitz declined to disclose exactly how many days these hens are left in their cages without feed.
"It is our understanding that Little Rhody Egg Farms is not a United Egg Producers Certified company. As a result, your company operates outside the boundary of even the most modest animal welfare standards regarding the treatment of laying hens in the United States," Davis wrote in her letter to Berkowitz. "We understand furthermore that you are using the word "fasting" to characterize what is in fact a starvation procedure in keeping with the adoption of this euphemism by the egg industry several years ago to disguise the truth of what it was doing to its hens."
In March UPC adopted 13 hens into their sanctuary, as they were being transferred in crates from Little Rhody Egg Farms to a battery hen operation called Antonelli's. It was during this time that the discovery was made.
"People do not support an individual or a company refusing to feed their animals," said Davis.
In 2004, the American Veterinary Medical Association amended the association's welfare policy on the forced molting of laying hens, stating, "Neither food nor water should be withdrawn." In 2005, United Egg Producers announced that after 01 January 2006, "only non-feed withdrawal molt methods will be permitted."
Little Rhody retailers include CVS, Walgreens, Shaws and several convenience stores throughout Rhode Island, Southeastern Massachusetts and Eastern Connecticut. The containers are labeled as Little Rhody or Rhody Fresh.
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