Colorado’s cage ban will free six million hens from a lifetime of confinement in cages. The State’s Governor signed the bill into law yesterday. Colorado joins Washington, Oregon, Michigan and California as the fifth state in the United States to ban cages.

SAFE Corporate Campaigns Coordinator Jessica Chambers said New Zealand’s political leaders need to follow suit.

"Colorado has nearly double the number of hens that New Zealand has. If they can ban cages then we can too."

There are an estimated 3,941,000 hens used for egg laying in New Zealand, of which, approximately 2,735,000 spend their lifetime in cages so small, they cannot stretch their wings.

The Labour and Green parties have previously committed to banning the caging of hens. "We want all parties to commit to this goal by this year’s election," says Chambers. "Hens deserve a life worth living."

Battery cages will be illegal in New Zealand from 2023. Colony cages will remain legal despite three-quarters of Kiwis wanting to see hens freed from cages.

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• On 1 January, 2023 - battery cages will be illegal in New Zealand and will be replaced by colony cages.
• A 2020 Colmar Brunton poll found 76% of New Zealanders were opposed to colony cages.
• In 2014 the Labour Party committed to banning the caging of layer hens. The Green Party’s current policy is to phase out intensive farming, which includes the caging of hens.
• Colony cages are already being phased out in parts of Europe, including Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, the Walloon Region of Belgium and Austria. Some US states including Washington, Oregon, Michigan, California and Colorado in the United States, have legal bans on the sale and production of cage eggs and farms are changing to cage-free systems.
• SAFE’s cage-free campaign work will lead to over two thousand business locations no longer purchasing cage eggs. Over the next five to seven years we will see 650+ supermarket locations, 200+ café locations, 350+ hotels, 800+ restaurant locations, three leading foodservice groups and 300+ sites including rest homes, schools and university dorms ditch cage eggs. Some have already met their commitments.
• The Open Wing Alliance has collectively secured cage-free policies from around 2,000 companies from around the world.

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