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*,-,The Dispatch Page 1 of 2 <br /> GArea r <br /> PATCH <br /> GiLROYDIS Weather <br /> Monday, ftQh&E20oNEWS SPORTS LIFESTYLES OPINION SPECIAL SECTIONS PRIDE 200E <br /> Search NEWS <br /> Search for: <br /> Goo E-mail this article to a friend ! Printer friendly format ! Email The Editor <br /> Oassifleds Free Range Ranch Plans <br /> Browse&Buy: <br /> *Animals/Pets Tuesday, August 23, 2005 <br /> *Automotive Ads <br /> *Careers By Matt King <br /> Employment Ads <br /> *Garage Sale/ <br /> Announcements Gilroy- Now that he's saved hundreds of chickens headed for the slaughterhouse, the new ow <br /> •Home Service Ads Gilroy egg farm hopes to turn a money-losing business into a profitable, more chicken-friendly <br /> •Legals - Gilroy enterprise. <br /> •Legals - Hollister <br /> •Legals - Morgan Hill "I believe we invade the lives of animals and that's not fair," Mahmoud Ascarie said Monday. " <br /> •Legals - Pinnacle that animals have the right to enjoy their lives." <br /> *Merchandise Ads <br /> *Professional Service <br /> Ads When Ascarie bought the old Olson family egg farm on Ca'ada Road two years ago, he was dis <br /> *Real Estate to see nearly 140,000 hens crammed into cages in a dank,fetid barn. So distraught he joined <br /> •RSS Feeds for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. <br /> Sell: Last week, Ascarie arranged for almost 2,000 hens to be rescued by various animal welfare gr <br /> *Place an Ad The rest of the birds - spent hens no longer capable of laying eggs -were packed into trucks a <br /> *Classifieds Login shipped off to the kill barn. <br /> •New Classifieds <br /> Registration "I tried to save all of them," Ascarie said. "I don't like the justification that chickens don't have <br /> They feel the pain." <br /> Obituaries According to Liz Sturla, executive director of Animal Place in Vacaville,who coordinated the re! <br /> Browse: chickens bred for commercial egg farms lead short, unhappy lives. <br /> *Obituaries <br /> At hatcheries, males chicks are killed. Females have their beaks cut off so they won't injure ea <br /> when they're jammed into the squat, 18-by-24-inch cages, typical of most egg farms,that are <br /> Reader Poll by as many as nine hens. Unable to move, chickens in the lower cages are pelted with the dro <br /> Should the California of their neighbors above. At the slaughterhouse, the hens are strung up, their throats are slit i <br /> high school exit ground into pet food. <br /> exam be reinstated <br /> as a requirement? "The laws we have to protect them are minimal from the beginning of their lives to the <br /> slaughterhouse," Sturla said. <br /> Yes <br /> Just as there are no state or federal regulations governing how chickens should be caged,ther <br /> No set rules defining cage-free and free-range chickens. According to the Humane Society of the I <br /> States, cage-free means birds are housed in warehouses, and have some freedom of moveme <br /> range chickens can roam outside and engage in natural nesting and foraging behaviors. <br /> Vote Now! <br /> Sturla said cage-free operations are better for the chickens, but don't address the perception t <br /> Total Votes: 73 chickens have less moral worth than companion birds like parakeets and canaries. <br /> View Results "The time when they're alive is, I would assume, a higher quality of life, because they're able i <br /> around," she said, "but the beginning and the end are the same. Our views of them should not <br /> how they're treated." <br /> Subscriber Center <br /> •About Mainstreet Ed Olivera, owner of the Olivera Egg Ranch,who has raised eggs at the farm for many years, <br /> http://gilroydispatch.com/news/contentview.asp?c=166871 5/23/2006 <br />