Battery Hen Welfare Trust

Battery Hen Welfare Trust

The Battery Hen Welfare Trust is the UK's first registered charity solely for laying hens. It was started in April 2005 and was established in order to raise awareness of the 20 million hens currently kept in cages in the UK. The founder of the Trust is Jane Howorth.

Aims

The aim of the charity is to reduce consumer demand for battery eggs whilst promoting British farmers using welfare-friendly systems.

This also includes educating consumers on the foods in which battery are used that are perhaps not quite as obvious. For example:

Cake
Pasta
Chocolates (fondant filled)
Quiche
Ready made Yorkshire Puddings
Ready made Pancakes
Biscuits
Ready meals
Noodles

A staggering 65% of UK battery eggs are used by food manufacturers.

The Trust is unique in that it seeks to work with farmers instead of condoning them. It does not concur with any extremist views or tactics and is not associated with any other organisation or group linked in any way to battery hens.

The BHWT rescues ex-battery hens and rehomes thousands of them every year. To date, 73,699 ex-battery hens have been rehomed through the Trust, however any hens that are too ill to be rehomed, remain at the Trust as permanent residents.The majority of the hens are re-homed on the day they are rescued for two reasons: so that they can settle into their new home as soon as possible and more importantly so that the rescued hen can act as an ambassador for the ones left behind. The Trust says that there is no better education than watching an ex-battery hen's confusion and bewilderment turn into wonderment at their new environment.

Current Campaigns

The Trust has recently launched a new campaign, aimed at convincing Cadbury to change the egg it uses in its Crème Eggs from battery to free-range.

Patrons

Patrons of the charity include Jamie Oliver, Pam Ayres, Amanda Holden, the Duchess of Richmond and Antony Worrall Thompson.

Award

The Battery Hen Welfare Trust also has its own award, the "Eggsellence Award". This is given to eating establishments all over the UK who exclusively use British free-range eggs. It can be awarded to Michelin-starred restaurants, Garden Centres, Tea Rooms, local pubs and roadside cafés.

External links

* [http://www.bhwt.org.uk Official website]
*UK charity|1109060
* cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/6161223.stm
title=Battery hens saved for retirement
publisher=BBC News
date=2006-12-08
accessdate=2008-02-16
* http://www.bhwt.org.uk/petition/index.php


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