First-ever investigation footage of laying hens in cage farms published in Slovakia

Humánny pokrok – a prominent animal advocacy group from Slovakia – has published the first ever investigation footage from cage farms for laying hens from Slovakia. The footage was obtained on three different locations, and finished with the support of Anima International. The footage, showing hens with severe feather loss, untreated injuries, dead hens in cages, and a living hen being thrown into a garbage can and buried alive under the bodies of dead birds, has swept through the media in the country and generated widespread uproar.

In the first 48 hours after publishing, the footage has reached one in five people in Slovakia on social media, and has appeared in all of the most influential and prominent media in the country, including the main news program of the biggest TV station, the most popular investigative program which included an extended interview with the person who collected the footage on one of the farms, the most widely read newspaper in the country, and the most popular radio station.

The proposal to ban cages for laying hens in Slovakia has been submitted by MP Tomáš Šudík to the Slovak National Council only last week and publishing of the investigation footage has stirred up further political discussion about the ban. The first reading of the proposal should take place in mid-March and since the government of Slovakia is in demission, all coalition deals are off the table, which makes the chances of the proposal hard to predict.

Humánny pokrok has launched their campaign to ban cages for laying hens in 2021, after securing cage-free commitments from almost all major retailers in the country and after winning a court case which one of the retailers has raised against their campaign, which eventually led to an additional commitment of the Slovak Poultry Union to go cage-free by 2030. The campaign has collected over 46 000 signatures calling for the ban on cages and if successful in first reading, the final vote on the ban could be expected as soon as mid-May or late June.

ZDIEĽAŤ ČLÁNOK

Kapry celé dni nehybne čakajú natlačené jeden na druhom v malej kadi na rušnej ulici, kde nepoznajú nič iné, len strach. Opakovane sa s nimi hrubo manipuluje a domov si odnášate kapra s bolestivými poraneniami po celom tele. V igelitovej taške sa dusí niekoľko desiatok minút. Takýto prevoz je pre kapra stresujúci boj o holý život. Voda vo vani je pre kapra príliš teplá na to, aby v nej vedel pokojne tráviť svoje posledné hodiny. Vo vode je navyše chlór, ktorý mu páli sliznice a žiabre. Kapor v domácich podmienkach často umiera pomaly a v bolestiach. Častou praktikou je utlčenie na smrť.  

Sliepky v klietkovom chove nemôžu robiť nič, čo je pre ne prirodzené a dôležité. Nemôžu sa kúpať v prachu a zbavovať sa tak parazitov, nemôžu si hľadať potravu a skúmať okolie, čím v prírode trávia väčšinu svojho času, a nemôžu si ani len stavať hniezda. Pre vaječný priemysel sú len strojmi na peniaze. Sliepka sa v takýchto podmienkach zakrátko doslova zblázni, čo následne vedie k početným konfliktom a kanibalizmu.

Každoročne trpí a zomiera na kožušinových farmách krutou a barbarskou smrťou 100 miliónov zvierat. Celý svoj život strávia v malej špinavej klietke a umierajú v plynových komorách, a neraz pri sťahovaní kože zaživa. Od kožušín sa však už odvracajú popredné módne značky, a čoraz viac krajín tento barbarský priemysel stavia mimo zákon. Na Slovensku sa nám to už podarilo v roku 2019. Nasledovalo Taliansko, Francúzsko, Estónsko a Írsko. Teraz je čas, aby sme ho zakázali v celej Európskej únii.