Battery hen farming defended in Australia

It has been reported that the Australian Egg Corporation has rejected calls for battery hen farming to be banned.

ABC News reported that the calls were made follow a release of footage of dead and dying hens allegedly taken by animal activists inside poultry Pitt Poultry sheds in southern Tasmania.

The RSPCA and the Greens are aiming for intensive hen farming to be banned on a national level. Primary Industries Minister, David Llewellyn, says he, too, is working to end the practice.

The production of eggs using battery cages has, however, been defended by the Egg Corporation's MD, James Kellaway. "I don't see why we should try and ban a production system that delivers animal welfare benefits," he said. "At the end of the day there is no perfect egg production system," he added.