Schoolgirl campaigner extends drive to end caged chicken eggs

Sheffield schoolgirl Lucy Gavaghan, aged 14, has set up a petition calling on Tesco to end the sale of eggs from caged and barn kept hens which has gained over 76,000 signatures in two weeks.

The petition launched by Sheffield schoolgirl Lucy Gavaghan, 14, has already gained nearly 100,000 supporters.

In the petition, Miss Gavaghan says: “In February, I launched a petition to end the sale of eggs from caged hens in Tesco. After 280,299 signatures, over 750 letters sent by my supporters, and a meeting with Tesco’s head of agriculture I received the news that the supermarket giant will end the sale of eggs from caged hens by 2025. Although this is a major step forward, the fight is nowhere near over.”

Of the big four supermarkets, only Leeds-based Asda and Morrisons, which has its headquarters in Bradford, still sell or intend to sell eggs from caged hens. Sainsbury’s stopped selling eggs from caged hens in 2012. Every time the petition is signed, an email is sent to the chief executives of Asda and Morrisons.

Miss Gavaghan said: “Caged hens spend 72 weeks cramped in restrictive cages, unable to spread their wings or experience the outside world. After this time, many of the hens are barely feathered and close to death. The space available per hen is marginally larger than an A4 sheet of paper. Hens require more than the bare minimum commercial cages provide. They need space to roam, experience the outside world and show natural behaviour in a natural environment. No animal deserves to live like this.”

A spokesman for Morrisons said: “We are currently reviewing our egg supply, but it is quite separate to this.“ Asda was not available for comment.

Miss Gavaghan told The Yorkshire Post: “I’m amazed the petition has grown so quickly. It’s a lot faster than the Tesco petition.”

She said that she will contact Morrisons and Asda soon to arrange meetings to discuss the issue. While supermarkets are sympathetic to Miss Gavaghan‘s cause, they say retailers are in no position to move to 100 per cent free range because there is not enough supply. They say that if free range is to become the norm, egg suppliers will need to invest in their farms at a time of uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote.