Breaking: Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Landmark Egg Bill

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed A.B. 1437, a bill backed by The Humane Society of the United States that requires that starting in 2015 all shell (whole) eggs sold in California must come from hens who were able to stand up, lie down, turn around, and fully extend their limbs without touching one another or the sides of an enclosure. In other words: California will become a cage-free state.

I have to admit to having mixed feelings about this.  While many of my Facebook friends are so excited over this, I’m a little sad and I have to respectfully disagree with them.  Of course, I don’t want to be labeled the crazy vegan on Facebook, so I’m going to post something here instead so that I can be the “crazy vegan” blogger.  On one hand, I realize that people eat eggs and I would rather those eggs come from hens who are able to move freely and who live a somewhat “normal” life.  On the other hand, laws like this and Prop. 2 which we recently passed here in CA only encourage consumption of these products.  It takes away the guilt involved in purchasing and eating products from animals, thus promoting the idea of “happy meat/eggs/etc.”  Instead of focusing on issues like this, I really wish HSUS would do more to encourage and promote a healthy vegan diet… which in effect would stop the consumption of eggs, dairy, meat.

And once the hens stop laying eggs (maybe after a year or two), she is slaughtered.  Really, I don’t think her being able to freely stretch her wings while living a life of imprisonment all to be slaughtered anyway is really much consolation.