The gauntlet for animal rights has just gotten a little easier. The pizza powerhouse, Papa John's, has made a public statement, on Nov. 14th, declaring that their company will no longer subject sows to gestation crates. In addition, Papa John's has stated that they will seek to work with other companies that share the same animal rights values.
Papa John's has more than 4,000 locations nation-wide, and is one of many to do away with gestation crates. Veg News reports that McDonalds, Burger King, Chipotle, Denny's, Target, Safeway and Whole Foods are progressing towards safer housing alternatives for animals.
The Huffington Post quotes Papa John's on their website:
"We support the industry move away from traditional crates and are encouraging our suppliers to explore alternative pregnant sow housing options. Our goal is to have significant movement to alternative housing by 2022, and we will seek suppliers who adopt a plan to implement this practice."
Earlier this summer Care 2 quoted Ryan Gosling speaking out on gestation crates:
“As written, the draft still allows the pork industry to lock pigs in gestation crates for up to five weeks at a time,” he writes. “Over a pig’s short life, which is just four years long, this amounts to about nine months of solitary confinement in a cage so small she can’t even turn her own body around.
“Pigs in tiny crates suffer beyond anything most of us can easily imagine. They are unable even to turn around for weeks at a time, so that their muscles and bones deteriorate. And these extremely social and intelligent animals lose their minds from being denied any social or psychological stimulation at all.”
image: wikimedia commons
