Animal-rights groups fault Washington egg producers' practices

Two national animal-welfare groups have selected Washington as their next target for changes in farm-industry practices.

The groups — The Humane Society of the United States and Farm Sanctuary — filed initiative language on Tuesday that would require state egg producers to give their hens enough room to turn around and extend their wings, and that all eggs sold here come from farms that meet those standards, as well.

"We're trying to move across the country with this," said Alison Longley, of Farm Sanctuary, which is based in upstate New York.

In the last few years, the group mounted similar initiative campaigns in Ohio, California and Florida. The California and Florida initiatives passed. In Ohio, the Legislature passed a law addressing the issues after the group gathered enough signatures to make the ballot.

The national groups have organized locally under the name Washingtonians for Humane Farms and are recruiting local partners.

There are seven egg producers in Washington, and together they have about 6.5 million hens. About 5 percent of them are considered cage-free.

A spokesman for the producers says they have not yet seen the initiative language but will likely fight it.

"Based on actions they've taken in other states, it likely will not be anything that egg farmers in Washington could support," said Greg Satrum, vice president of Willamette Egg Farms.

Duane Olsen, of Briarwood Farms, said the producers, instead, would like the Legislature to pass a law giving the Washington Department of Agriculture authority to establish standards for humane production.

Washingtonians for Humane Farms said laying hens are confined in cages where each one "has less space than a sheet of paper." Their lives are "filled with suffering."

Olsen, a veterinarian, said there is evidence to the contrary.

"The first thing that goes in an animal that's stressed is food intake, and they don't lay eggs," he said.

The animal-welfare groups plan to use volunteer signature gatherers. They need to collect more than 241,000 valid signatures to make the November ballot.

Maureen O'Hagan: 206-464-2562 or mohagan@seattletimes.com