KOCHI: The campaign initiated by animal activists against battery cages, where egg-laying hens are confined to cramped congested cages is picking up in Kerala. Sally Varma, senior outreach coordinator of Hum-ane Society Internation-al/India is on a mission to spread awareness and also plans to approach the government to ban battery cages.
The cages, mostly used by poultry farmers, are so small that the birds can’t even stand up straight. They don’t even see sunlight until the day they are taken for slaughter. Norm-ally, five to ten birds will be kept inside a battery cage in terrible conditions.
“We have become so conditioned to this cruelty that we no longer think of it as something wrong or consider them as sentient beings with feelings,” said Sally Varma. As part of th campaign Sally has been conducting classes in schools and colleges across the state. Currently, volunteers from two major colleges have come forward to be a part of the ‘End Battery Cages' campaign.
“Poultry birds have always been considered as a commodity. Even the education system imparts this idea. If consumers want to end battery cages, then it would motivate authorities and industry to end the practice,” she added.
Earlier, the Law Commis-sion of India observed battery cages as cruel and in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PCA) Act, 1960.
“Viable alternatives are available to eliminate battery cages. But big corporate lobbies are twisting the rules and the regulatory bodies are being ruled over by these influential lobbies,” remarked Shreya Paropkari, campaign manager of Farm Animal Welfare of HSI/India.
