Cage-free advocacy with The Humane League

A battery cage gives a laying hen roughly the floor space of a sheet of paper for her entire life, with no room to spread her wings. The most efficient way to empty those cages is not to persuade shoppers one at a time, but to change what the companies buying billions of eggs will accept from their suppliers.

Campaigners approach a large food company privately and ask it to commit to a cage-free supply chain on a public timeline. Most agree at that stage. Those that refuse face sustained public pressure until they do, and each commitment makes the next company easier, because no major brand wants to be the last one defending the practice. Manufacturers, food service companies and restaurant chains including General Mills, Aramark and Subway have adopted policies of this kind.

The tactic travels. The Open Wing Alliance, founded in 2015, is a coalition of partner organizations across six continents that receive grants and training to run the same campaigns in their own countries, with the single aim of ending cage confinement globally. A separate laboratory arm tests which advocacy and education methods actually work, so tactics are chosen on evidence rather than instinct.

The organization running these programs is The Humane League.

Canadians giving through Rethink Charity receive an official Canadian donation receipt. You can also reach this work through the Animal Welfare Fund, which spreads a single gift across several recommended organizations.