(You can read this post as a Google Doc. You might find this easier to share with animal-sympathetic non-EAs. Also: I work at Rethink Priorities, but I'm writing in a personal capacity.)

A few weeks ago, I shared some suggested responses for a Defra consultation on welfare labelling. I was really pleased to hear that many EAs and animal rights advocates wrote in to support the proposal. I’m now sharing a similar opportunity: ~ten minutes of your time to speak up for ~4.5 million caged chickens.

If you want to help, you have less than 48 hours to get this done!

What’s the public consultation?

The Scottish government is running a public consultation on their proposal to ban cages for layer hens. Agriculture is a devolved power so Holyrood have responsibility for Scottish animal welfare.

Let’s be clear: cage-free chickens have dramatically better lives than caged chickens. Liberating caged chickens alleviates a great deal of suffering.^[1]

Over 80% of Scottish layer hens are already cage-free. A greater proportion than across the whole UK, this is a testament to hard work from animal welfare campaigners. Nevertheless, a ban still seems really important:

• Corporate commitments might not last forever. A ban can lock in campaigners’ hard-won victories and pre-empt businesses backsliding
• Corporate commitments and welfare schemes might not always be met or enforced. A recent investigation from Animal Rising revealed that at least one English farm kept chickens in cages despite being RSPCA Assured. We could have greater trust that chickens are truly free from cages if they were banned
• The pro-animal movement will have another win, which builds political momentum for our cause. The Scottish government notes that Luxembourg and Austria have already banned cages; that Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are phasing them out; and that Australia aims to ban cages by 2036. If Scotland is attentive to other governments’ bans, then other governments might pay attention to a Scottish ban
• 18% of Scottish layer hens are still so many – over a million – birds. None of them deserve to live their whole life condemned to a cage.

The government are considering three options:

1. 2030 ban on enriched cage production
2. 2030 ban on installing new cages, and 2034 ban on enriched cage production
3. “Information campaign aimed at consumers to encourage all retailers who have not signed up to the retailer pledge and caterers to commit to stop stocking/selling eggs or egg products from enriched cages by 2034”^[2]

Option (2) is the default because the government thinks this best balances improving bird welfare and supporting the egg industry. This proposal is what the public consultation is about.

I think pursuing (2) rather than (1) is really disappointing. Four more years of cages means up to 4.5 million layer hens will live their lives behind bars.^[3] And there are only fifteen farms currently keeping caged layer hens in Scotland; do they really need four more years of warning? An instant ban on installing new cages and a 2030 ban on all enriched cage production seem eminently reasonable to me.

How you can help

You can access the public consultation here and submit your response by 25 June 2024. You don’t have to be Scottish to respond.

The consultation is divided into several pages. Only the ‘About you’ page is necessary.

You should definitely answer the ‘Policy proposal’ questions. I would suggest writing something like this – but you might want to edit to best reflect your views (e.g. emphasising your personal stake, if you live in Scotland; or removing language about humane farming, if you’re an abolitionist).

You could also consider answering these ‘Animal welfare’ and ‘Further comments’ questions. I would suggest writing something like this (but again, I recommend editing to fit your personal views).

Will your response influence decision-makers?

I'm unsure! The Scottish government certainly seem fixed on option (2), a 2034 ban. It's probably also worth noting that the Scottish government isn't very stable right now. But nonetheless, I think it's well worth completing your response; even if you think there's a very small chance that you influence the government, it's only ten minutes of your day to potentially improve millions of lives.

You might be interested in Max Carpendale's research into whether public consultation responses can influence decision-makers, and Kirsten's comment on her experiences aggregating responses.

1. ^{^}

    Thanks to Cynthia Schuck-Paim and Wladimir Alonso at The Welfare Footprint Project for putting this data together, and to Hannah Ritchie at Our World in Data for first graphing it. (I’ve redone / edited Hannah’s graphics). You can learn more about the data here and here.

2. ^{^}

    The non-regulatory option is clearly the weakest here, but I would be interested in governments with a lower proportion of cage-free layer hens running information campaigns like this, because that could free up counterfactual funding within the pro-animal movement.

3. ^{^}

    4.5 million calculated from 4 * number of caged layer hens in February 2024 (1,128,631). Take this as an upper bound because layer hens generally live 18 to 24 months, rather than one year, and because we should expect the number of caged chickens to wind down rather than suddenly drop off.