The SPCA is set to put high animal welfare firmly on the menu, at their SPCA ‘Blue Tick’ stand (Wellington Food Show Westpac Stadium, 11-13 May 2012) in a bid to raise awareness that there are humanely farmed egg and meat products that consumers can choose to cook with; and why.

One in three women surveyed in a recent groundbreaking New Zealand study reported delaying leaving violent relationships because they feared their pets and other animals would be killed or tortured. Of these, one quarter said their children had witnessed violence against animals.

The SPCA is asking battery hen farmers to consider converting to barn housing for layer hens as a cage-free farming option.

Recently a free-range layer hen farm in Martinborough was abandoned by the farmers. Many hens were left neglected, to fend for themselves. The SPCA wants to alert New Zealand consumers that term “free-range” is no guarantee of good animal welfare but simply a marketing term.