Today, thanks to your support, 4 million more hens are free from the cruel confines of cages.

Have you ever felt like a problem is just too big to solve? But you take a crack at it anyways. One step at a time. And just like that, you’re making progress. Big progress.

When I first saw the heartbreaking photo of Harper, an egg-laying hen trapped in a cage on a factory farm, I didn’t see a solution. All I could see was the problem. Her blunt, trimmed beak poked beyond the barren wire bars of her cramped cage. I could see the look of defeat in her eyes, the pain on her featherless neck—rubbed raw from her cruel caged home. And I could imagine how torturous the sores on her feet must feel, as she grasped at the only thing she could—wire caging. All while being forced to produce egg after egg, amounting to around 300 a year—as if she was born to be a machine. There was no dirt or dust for her to soothe her aching body. No sunlight to uplift her spirits. And no one to help her break free beyond the bars of this cruel cage that would be her only home.

At that moment, I knew I had to do something—something that would change the future fate of hens like Harper. With a few volunteers, donors, and other animal protection groups by my side, we began influencing small, and then big, corporations to commit to going cage-free—banning these cruel battery cages within their businesses. Cages that never should have existed in the first place.

[Photo of hens in battery cages]

Hens like Harper are condemned to suffer a lifetime of abuse in a barren wire cage. Thanks to your continued support, more corporations are turning their backs on this brutal practice.
 
The progress we’ve now made fills me with hope. 4 million more hens are free from cages—and that’s just in the first three months of this year, in the US. (Zooming out beyond this year, an astonishing 96 million hens in the US are now free from cages.) When I try to wrap my head around these numbers, I think back to Harper. What would I do to ensure no living being endures what she did?

The answer is clear. We must continue our fight, until every hen is free from the cage she’s been forced to call home. And that is exactly what we are doing.

On behalf of hens like Harper, today we're taking on the world's largest fast food company and demanding an end to cages.

Yum! Brands, the owners of Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut, and other big brands, let innocent chickens like Harper suffer under their watch.

Will you join me and the Open Wing Alliance, in asking one of their biggest brands, Taco Bell, to extend their US cage-free commitment to hens still suffering in their global supply chain? With locations in dozens of countries, this multibillion-dollar company grew even more profitable during the global pandemic. They have no excuse. It’s up to you—to us—to let them know that profiting off of abused animals is not smart business. But most of all, it’s not right. No animal, like Harper, deserves to be caged and abused for any reason—especially not for a breakfast burrito.

Here's what I'm going to post on Taco Bell's Facebook page today. Feel free to borrow from mine, or write your own comment!

"Hens shouldn’t have to suffer through hell just so Taco Bell can make a greater profit! Come on, Taco Bell, do the right thing and go cage-free globally! 😢"

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If you had asked me 10 years ago, I’m not sure I would have believed this much progress was possible in such a short period of time. Thank you for caring enough to take action. On behalf of the 4 million hens freed from cages this year—thank you! And on behalf of those who are still suffering in cages, please keep fighting. Hens like Harper are counting on you.

For the animals,

David Coman-Hidy
President of The Humane League

P.S. Want to learn more about the truth about how the egg industry abuses hens? Watch our just-released eggsplainer video, and share with a friend! [[link removed]]


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We exist to end the abuse of animals raised for food. But we can’t do it without you. The Humane League is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization ranked "Best In America" by the Independent Charities of America and ranked one of the world's four most effective animal protection organizations by Animal Charity Evaluators. Our federal EIN number is 04-3817491.

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