The Campaign against Battery Cages
Though battery cages are banned in many countries, Israel is still very much behind on this issue. The current big animal welfare campaign in Israel is against battery cages, and more specifically revolves around legislative reforms in this area. The background to this campaign is a government decision from 2007 that essentially resolved to replace old battery cages with new and somewhat more spacious battery cages.
Anonymous for Animal Rights is a major animal rights group that brought this is issue to public awareness, with the help of many supporters. It reached the mainstream media and has been making good use of Facebook and Youtube (in Hebrew). Some local celebrities, artists, rabbis, politicians and celebrity chefs also joined the campaign and expressed their support.
Anonymous appealed to the court against the government’s decision, and as a result the reform was delayed until a revised reform is drafted. This time the legislation should at least conform to the European minimum standards for battery cages, and the campaigners try to promote aviaries as a practical alternative.
As you can probably gather, it’s a campaign focused on welfare rather than rights, based on a realistic assessment of the current state of affairs, which is certainly not ripe for more radical reforms. Aviaries and free range eggs are offered as the current alternatives to battery cages - obviously neither of these prevents the exploitation of animals. Still, the campaign managed to attract media attention and to create a public debate on the living conditions of chickens that has a long term educational value.
The drafting of the new reform has not yet been completed, and there are regular demonstrations held in front of the Knesset (parliament) on days on which the relevant committee holds its meetings to discuss this reform.
The upcoming demonstration is on Sunday 31st October at 8:30am in Wohl Rose Park, opposite the Knesset, Jerusalem.
Read more about Anonymous and more about the egg industry reform. If you read some Hebrew, take a look at the campaign website.
