June 22nd city council meeting

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The Guelph residents who wish to provide more humane living conditions for egg laying hens were greatly disappointed by City Council’s decision to oppose Councilor Laidlaw’s motion to ban caged eggs from city run facilities and events and to encourage restaurants and grocery stores to carry cage-free egg options.

Dr. Petrik, past chair of the Ontario Association of Poultry Producers, claimed that the issue of housing systems for egg layers is too complex for city council to take on. This statement is ridiculous and is meant to intimidate city council from choosing to improve the living conditions of laying hens.

City council deals with complex and contentious issues all the time. If Council decided to oppose a motion on the basis of its complexity, that would exclude many motions, including those of community development, the environment, and organic waste management.

“Experts” disagree all the time. Hired guns for industry, such as Dr. Petrik, who has few to no animal welfare credentials, can always be found to say what the industry pays them to say. The tobacco industry was able to pay medical doctors to say smoking was not dangerous for people’s health, and the oil industry has paid “experts” to cast doubts about climate change. Experts paid by industry have a vested interests in maintaining their lucrative relationships with the industries that pay them.

Dr. Ian Duncan is a world renowned animal welfare/poultry welfare expert and has served as the animal welfare advisor to the Commission of the European Communities. He is an animal welfare researcher, Emeritus Professor and Chair of Animal Welfare at the University of Guelph and has published more than 150 scientific papers most of which are connected to animal welfare. His scientific studies enable egg laying hens to “tell” researchers which housing systems they prefer have served as models for animal welfare research in Europe. Some of his research can be viewed at: www.uoguelph.ca/abw/iduncan/publications.shtml  KL

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