davidcomanhidy

For those who don't know: ag-gag laws are a pernicious group of bills that attempt to stop undercover whistleblowers and investigators from revealing the cruelty on factory farms.

THL doesn't do investigations ourselves, but the entire movement depends on these exposes to show the public what is going on behind closed doors. Any effort that makes it more difficult to obtain that footage is bad for animals.

The silver lining is that ag-gag laws have been a total PR disaster for factory farms. I guess it doesn't look good when you're actively trying to make it illegal for people to see what it is you're up to.

Hey, just to be clear: there are two separate campaigns/asks here. Our ongoing/multi-year cage-free campaign relates to chickens raised to lay eggs. The asks outlined above relate to chickens raised for meat.

The reason that we landed on cage-free, though, is that it is the greatest amount of harm reduction that we were likely to succeed in campaigning for as a new national standard (so that we could impact the entire laying flock rather than a small number of animals).

I'd recommend is joining up with the Fast Action Network: http://thehumaneleague.com/fast-action-network/

Members receive a few actions each week that can be done from their phone or computer. Our FAN members are a big part of our campaign strategy and it's an easy way for anybody to get involved.

Our mission is to reduce animal suffering, so the short answer to your question is that we're in favor of any change that moves in that direction (whether it's a reduced number of animals being raised on factory farms or improved conditions).

We work on both fronts, trying to reduce demand and to reduce the harm done to the animals who are being raised.

It's my personal hope that advances in technology (plant-based/in-vitro meats, for example) will replace factory farming.

Aramark is one of the largest foodservice companies in the world, and they say that they are committed to being part of the solution for changing the way that chickens are treated. We're targeting them because a commitment will impact a huge number (many millions) of animals and because their clients, many of them college students, oppose the way chickens are treated in their supply chain.

We saw foodservice at the forefront of the change for egg-laying hens, and we're planning on history repeating itself here.