By IANS,
New Delhi: Protesting against poultry farms that starve their hens to induce molting and stimulate additional cycles of egg production, an NGO has launched a whistle blower programme which will allow people to anonymously report such cases.
According to a statement by the Humane Society International (HSI), the launch of the programme comes after the Animal Welfare Board of India directed all poultry farms in the country to immediately discontinue “starvation force molt” regimes, stating that the practice is in violation of India’s Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, and a punishable offence.
Starvation force molting deprives an egg-laying hen of food for up to 14 days and may be combined with one to two days of water deprivation, in order to rejuvenate their reproductive tracts and stimulate additional cycles of egg production, the statement said.
“Once HSI receives a report about starvation molting on a particular farm, we will work with the state animal husbandry department, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), the Animal Welfare Board of India, and the state animal welfare board to investigate the matter,” N.G. Jayasimha of the HSI, said.
Talking about the whistle blower programme, Jayasimha said that it holds special significance to curb these cases because factory farms are otherwise “extremely secretive” about their activities.