Eggs - Cage or Free Range or Barn Laid?

When buying eggs, I'm very much used to choosing the cheapest available in the grocery shop. I don't pay much attention to what it states. I mean, h*ll they're just eggs.. Most of the time, I splatter them in my instant noodle soup, so it's not like I'll taste the difference anyway between the $2.99/dozen and the $6.99/dozen. And, none of my siblings have complained about the way the eggs taste. Why change? Why increase our weekly expense?

Until the time I went shopping recently, a word on the eggs-case-label was pointed out to me by this smart alien I went shopping with... "Cage". What does it mean? Why haven't I seen it before? =) I suppose that's not unusual of me. I don't really read the eggs-case-labels. They seem pretty meaningless to me.

Apparently, they mean something... Some people fought hard for those words to be printed as part of the eggs-case-label. I'm not sure if they haven't done a good job to get people to understand these words or I'm just wayyyyy too ignorant of the things that are happening around the world. Seeing it's me, I'm sure it's more the latter. They do have meaning - as I've just discovered.

An extract from this post stated ...

"Although we're buying fewer cage eggs, about 73 per cent of eggs sold in supermarkets and shops come from caged hens living in sheds. From next year, cage hens will have slightly larger cages in which to spend the 70-odd weeks of their lives. The size of the new cages, housing three or four hens at a time, will give each bird at least 550 square centimetres - better than the previous minimum standard of 450 square centimetres. But it still means a caged chicken's personal space is slightly smaller than a piece of A4 paper - for it's entire life, says Glenys Oogjes of Animals Australia."

When I first heard bout it, I didn't really think much of it. I mean, they're just chickens, not human beings, so it's not like that they can fully digest what they're going through... Also, what is the impact of one single soul like me not buying the cage eggs to the whole business of egg-selling? Deep down, I know how lame this last justification is though. I mean, if everyone think the way I do, the business who sell caged-eggs will keep doing what they're doing. As long as there are demands for these eggs, what would make them stop? And, my first justification of they're just being chickens, that's very bad too... It's bad enough I get to eat them, and their unborn chicks, do I have to harm them in the process too? I guess, it feels less cruel cause the process is not really visible to me.

But, going through this interesting page "The Chicken - All Creatures Animal Exploitation Photo Gallery" definitely makes me realise how cruel it is. Definitely too cruel to save $2-$3 over a dozen of eggs.

The question that remains with me though is ... where to draw the line?

Now I know that buying caged-eggs are wrong; but, aren't eating the chickens/eggs wrong too? What bout eating all the other animals? There's definitely nothing wrong with drinking milk, I suppose, but what about eating their meat? What bout those cute piggies?

It's funny - before I had my precious time with "Cookie"; I wouldn't think much about eating dog meat; (but luckily - I've never tried them!); but since then, imagining people beating dogs and cutting them up is just WRONG! Goodness - he's a friend to me. It feels like they're saying they'll cut up my friend and cook them for me!

So maybe, right now I haven't really been close enough to these animals to feel that it's wrong to eat them, but one day I might change my mind... I can't really force myself into thinking that eating these animals are wrong I supposed. But I for sure know that I don't want to be cruel to chickens in the process of eating their eggs...

I'm happy that I'm learning as the days passed ...
^.^