Michigan Law Requires Cage Free Animals by 2024

​worldanimalnews.com/breaking-new-michigan-law-requires-cage-free-conditions-for-hens-pigs-calves-beginning-in-2024/

Michigan has just passed a law requiring hens, calves, and pigs be cage free by 2024, effectively ending some of the cruelest conditions for farm animals in the state. The law, improving on a law from 2010 that put a ban on restrictive cages by 2020, will see all farm animals spared the horrors of living in cages on farms which is wholly exciting.

Animals used for meat and dairy have some of the lowest standards of living when compared to other animals outside of the agriculture industry. I know I have repeatedly reported on stories involving abuse of farm animals in the past because they simply don't have the protections and welfare standards other animals have, like dogs and cats for example. Farm animals are regularly overlooked when it comes to the way animals deserve to be treated, especially within the agriculture industry where they are looked at as nothing more than products. Farm animals endure some of the most grotesque treatment and poor living conditions imaginable which is why a law like this is quite monumental. 

Egg laying hens are subjected to overcrowded cages with no room to fully open their wings as well as squalor like conditions inside of those cages. They are forced to live amongst their own feces all while suffering emotional and mental stress as they attempt to move around with such limited space. Female pigs who give birth are forced into gestation crates where they cannot move whatsoever as their babies are separated from them only accessing them to feed. Calves sold for veal can sometimes be forced to live in cages for up to 4 months until it is time for their slaughter.

This law will alleviate some of the worst conditions for farm animals allowing them the space to move without the restriction of living in cages. There is still much work to do in regards to farm animals being treated as living creatures who deserve certain standards of living until their deaths, but this is certainly a step in the right direction. We can only hope that this inspires more states across the US to impose similar laws effectively ending cages for these poor animals.

HAPPY VEG