Federal Judge Grants Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy “Intervenor” Status in Baseless DOJ Case Attacking California’s Landmark, Broadly Supported Cage-Free Animal Welfare Laws
LOS ANGELES – Animal Wellness Action (AWA) and the Center for a Humane Economy (CHE) announced today that the organizations have been granted intervenor status in the lawsuit recently filed by the Trump administration to gut a series of immensely popular hen-welfare laws. Not only do animal welfare groups unanimously oppose this outrageous legal action, but so do egg farmers in California and across the nation. Producers from California to Iowa to Pennsylvania have collectively spent billions of dollars converting their production facilities to cage-free systems. Nearly 50 percent of national production is now cage-free, with a subset of that production being pasture-based.
California Republicans, Independents, and Democrats have spoken loudly and overwhelmingly in supporting more humane housing standards for laying hens and shedding the era of extreme confinement of the animals. In 2008, voters approved Proposition 2, setting minimum space requirements for laying hens. In 2010, Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation to require that eggs sold in the state, no matter where the hen production occurs, must allow the animals to lie down, stand up, turn around and extend their wings. And in 2018, voters overwhelmingly doubled down with Proposition 12, establishing a specific space requirement for laying hens. California’s egg industry — with the Association of California Egg Farmers also seeking to intervene in the case — now supports these state laws.
Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy have been at the forefront of defending these humane reforms, including going to court to uphold California’s Proposition 12 and Massachusetts’ Question 3 against industry challenges. The architect of Prop 2, Wayne Pacelle, president of both organizations, has worked to advance all of these measures from the beginning, mobilizing voters, lawmakers, and consumers to reject the inhumane confinement of farm animals.
Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, said:
“Animal welfare advocates and egg farmers have worked together over the last 15 years to advance a methodical transition to cage-free production not only in California but across the nation. We are deep into that transition, and this legal maneuvering threatens to upend that progress and drive egg prices higher. With egg farmers, consumers, and animal advocates supporting California’s farm-animal welfare laws, there is literally no constituency for this lawsuit, except perhaps extreme confinement egg farmers in Mexico and China.”
The surge in egg prices that has occurred over the past three years was a derivative of the spread of H5N1 and USDA’s depopulation of 135 million laying hens. Pasture-based egg-housing systems and cage-free systems had lower rates of disease transmission than conventional cage-based systems. Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy stand ready to vigorously defend California’s right to safeguard its consumers from unsafe eggs produced in inhumane ways.