The Australian "Hen Welfare Advisory Group," an egg industry front to provide propaganda to assist in allaying concerns about hen welfare, proves that there is no way to use hens without cruelty. From the site's explanations of each egg production method:

Cage

• Reduced social interaction with other birds.
• Considerably less space to roam, but enough space to stand upright and stretch their wings.
• Inability to display natural behaviours like nesting and dust-bathing in most cages.
• Conventional cages do not allow hens to perch which can result in lower bone strength and increased bone breakage during removal of hens at the end of lay.

Barn

• Greater occurrence of manure-borne diseases and parasites.
• Larger flock sizes make it more difficult to identify and remove birds for treatment.
• Higher likelihood of feather-pecking, infighting and cannibalism in this system.
• Increased risk of flying into objects leading to increased bone breakage during lay.

Free Range

• Greater exposure to the elements and predators.
• Greater occurrences of manure-borne diseases and parasites.
• Larger flock sizes make it more difficult to identify and remove birds for treatment.
• Higher likelihood of feather-pecking, infighting and cannibalism.
• Increased risk of flying into objects leading to increased bone breakage during lay.

The industry's own propaganda can't describe a way to use animals without cruelty, because there is no such thing.

A report on research done by the pork industry into the effectiveness of animal activist groups makes clear the industry's position on animal welfare; it doesn't have one:

http://www.pork.org/NewsAndInformation/WebFeaturePage2.aspx?Id=325

Apparently, telling the truth about factory farming is a problem:

[QUOTE]We're keeping a close eye on these activist groups and their messages, and we're prepared to take action if they escalate their efforts to target children[/QUOTE]

This is why free range farming is no answer to the problems; the industry simply doesn't care about the animals it exploits.

An Australian slaughterhouse has been exposed for using cruel killing techniques:

http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/
Abattoir-probed-over-illegal-slaughter/2007/08/03/1185648091225.html (long URL warning).

[QUOTE]If this is now revealed as the truth, what else is going on and where?[/QUOTE]

Answer: The worst possible abuses and everywhere. From the factory farm to the slaughterhouse, the animal is simply a way to make money.

Solution: Go Veg

Yes, it's finally happened; scientists finally admit that we were right about animal farming being bad for the environment:

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22098175-5006007,00.html

This isn't exactly a breakthrough; the UN said this in 2006 and people who care about the environment have been saying it for a lot longer.

http://www.goveg.com/environment-globalwarming.asp

An Australian radio station recently had their morning "Bunch" run a call-in segment asking people what others say when they found out what they do, wherein a Pig Vet took the opportunity to promote pork and the pork industry:

[Bunch] So what do you do?

[Caller] I'm a Pig Veterinarian... People say to me, "Oh my god, do you eat them?"

[Bunch] Do you eat them?

[Caller] Of course I do

[Bunch] Yes

[Caller] I know all the people who take care of them and I know how they do it, so I'm only too happy to eat my favourite meat.

Apon the station receiving the facts about the pork industry, this is the highly professional and very telling response we received:

[QUOTE] !!!

Did you even hear the caller??? I think you need to get your facts straight before putting things into writing!

You seriously need to doing some fact finding before sending random emails like this as it only shows you up to be incompetent in the position you seem to hold. You should be trying to get the media on your side to promote your cause rather than firing off emails like this.

I look forward to trying dog one day. I'm sure it will be just as delicious as all of the other meats I eat.

Yum Yum! [/QUOTE]

Not much else can be said about that. We can expect some sort of legal heavyweight to be in touch next, to try to silence the truth as is the usual response from the meat industry. Stay tuned for part two...

For the facts, forget the media. Try

http://www.savebabe.com/

http://www.peta.org/factsheet/files/FactsheetDisplay.asp?ID=119

http://www.goveg.com/f-hiddenlivespigs.asp

The Human Battery Cage is on the road; here's some shots of the exhibit in action:

The cage tours Australia, informing people of the terrible conditions suffered by caged battery hens across the world:

http://www.humanbatterycage.com/

The human battery cage is now touring Australia:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3970927a12.html

The human battery cage site is http://www.humanbatterycage.com/

Despite a bit of discomfort for the people in the cages, the real thing is far worse:

http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming_chickens_egg.asp

The ALF are left to do the work the "legitimate" animal cruelty investigators should be doing, as usual:

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411416/958611

My heroes all wear masks.

UPDATE: I see others agree:

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NewsDisplay/tabid/209/articleID/18639/Default.aspx

The Independent Media in NZ details the ALF reaction to a fire at a major chicken processing facility:

http://indymedia.org.nz/newswire/display/72238/index.php

In this difficult time for all involved, some words of sympathy and encouragement are warranted; burn motherfucker, burn.

UPDATE: Here's a mainstream news site's coverage; it's suprisingly balanced, given how the media usually deal with the ALF:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10417964

In a display of Karma at work, egg producers in South Australia are complaining bitterly about not being able to make money from their cruel battery farms, as they are being forced to make them less cruel:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21004486-5006787,00.html

My favorite line in the article:

[QUOTE]"There's no point fighting these guys any more. They've destroyed our will," Ms Copeland said.[END QUOTE]

Some days it's just good to be alive to read things like this.

An excellent article in the American Chronicle highlights the way that holiday cheer and goodwill somehow fails to extend to animals for most people:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=18418

In the article, the author mentions "Charlotte's Web" and wonders about the welfare of the animals in the movie. Happily, every single baby pig used in the movie was sent to a good home and avoided the slaughterhouse, after Animals Australia got involved:

http://www.savebabe.com/latest-news.html#Jun05

While, as the author points out, this may not have been the case with "Babe," at least some good came of that movie too; actor James Cromwell was vegetarian by the time he finished making the movie and now supports the cause directly:

http://www.savebabe.com/james.html