‘This Is “Cage-Free”‘ Billboard Now Up in Wake of Prop 12 Passage

Pro-Vegan Ad Comes After New PETA Video Shows Hens in Packed Shed at Self-Proclaimed ‘Chicken Disneyland’

For Immediate Release:
February 19, 2019

Contact:
Audrey Shircliff 202-483-7382

“This Is ‘Cage-Free.’ Don’t Be Duped. Go Vegan.” That’s the message on a new PETA billboard now up in Santa Rosa that debunks the myth of “cage-free” eggs. The billboard comes after PETA released damning video footage of a packed chicken shed at Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs, Inc., in Lakeside, California, which has been held up as illustrative of the future of egg farming in the state and touted by its owner as “Chicken Disneyland.”

The ad is located on College Avenue (near the intersection with Cleveland Avenue) close to several restaurants and grocery stores. It will remain up for four weeks.

“‘Cage-free’ means absolutely nothing to the hens who are stuffed on top of each other in filthy warehouses and made to overproduce eggs until their bodies give out and they’re killed,” says PETA Director Danielle Katz. “PETA’s billboard aims to show Californians that there’s no such thing as humane eggs and that the only real way to avoid supporting the suffering of animals used for food is to go vegan.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—posted the billboard after Californians voted to pass Proposition 12, which allows farms to keep egg-laying hens in cages until 2022 and then confine them to massive warehouses with only 1 square foot of space per bird, the egg industry’s own current recommendation for cage-free hens. PETA warned before the measure was passed that it would keep hens miserable while misleading well-intentioned consumers.

PETA’s eyewitness at Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs, Inc., reported that the shed smelled strongly of waste and that frustrated hens cried out endlessly. The birds had no escape from the noise or odor. Constant exposure to noise and severe crowding can lead to distress, excessive adrenal hormone production, and suppression of the immune system.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat”—has also placed the billboard in San Diego and Sacramento.

PETA offers free vegan starter kits on its website that are full of recipes, tips, and more. For more information, please visit PETA.org.