The lives of laying hens are usually far removed from the happy, pastoral scene of our imagination, shaped and sweetened by advertising. In the vast majority of farms, in Italy and around the world, hens live crammed together, packed into tiny iron cages stacked in rows up to six storeys high, lit by artificial light and never once experiencing the warmth of the sun, the wind through their feathers, or the feel of grass beneath their feet. Evidence of the chilling conditions in which these animals live — or rather, exist — comes from a video filmed by the organisation Animal Equality at a farm in Lombardy.

The hens' hell

The footage from the investigation Il vero prezzo delle uova shows cages packed with hens, dead animals in contact with live ones, and layers of faeces covering the shed floor. The hens live in spaces wholly inadequate to meet their most basic needs, and the cage floors are nothing more than wire mesh that causes wounds and infections to their feet and postural problems. These conditions clearly cause the hens — creatures endowed with a surprising intelligence and sensitivity — severe stress, which drives them to peck at one another and gives rise to cases of cannibalism. "In trying to move around inside the overcrowded cages, the hens inflict painful wounds on themselves that receive no veterinary attention or care, while dead hens are left in the cages to decompose alongside their still-living companions," said one of the people who made the video.

The complaint

After documenting these farming conditions, which violate national and European directives (the EU banned the use of conventional battery cages in 2012), Animal Equality filed a criminal complaint for animal cruelty against the farm in question with the Carabinieri's Comando unità per la tutela forestale, ambientale e agroalimentare in Mantua.

Consumers at risk too

As well as violating minimum animal welfare requirements, this type of farming also poses a risk to consumer health. "The investigation also revealed an extremely serious hygiene and health situation that calls into serious question the very safety of the eggs produced. We documented decomposing rats in direct contact with the hens and eggs completely infested with larvae and insects," the animal rights organisation stated.

The situation of hens in Italy

In Italy, approximately 49 million laying hens are farmed, and more than 70 per cent of them live in tiny battery cages, in a space barely smaller than an A4 sheet of paper, inside windowless sheds. The appalling scenes documented at the Lombard farm by Animal Equality may therefore represent not the exception but the norm. Giulia Innocenzi, author of the television programme Animali come noi, which focuses on intensive farming in Italy, said she had "seen sheds with 20,000 chickens, pigs crammed into pens so tight they cannot even turn around, forced to live in their own faeces and to eat it."

The Italcarni case

In 2015, hidden cameras at the Italcarni slaughterhouse in Ghedi, in the province of Brescia, revealed a similar situation. The victims in this case were cows, subjected to genuine torture. Then, too, the animals were not the only ones to suffer, and consumer health had also been put at risk. Some meat samples were found to contain bacterial concentrations up to 50 times higher than those permitted by law, including salmonella. The slaughterhouse in question was seized and six people were placed under investigation: the company owner, three employees and two Asl veterinarians, charged with animal cruelty, adulteration of meat intended for human consumption, falsification of a public document, food counterfeiting and illegal waste disposal.

Beyond the veil of Maya

"The livestock industry wields its political influence knowing that its business model depends on consumers having no opportunity to see," wrote Jonathan Safran Foer in the book Se niente importa. Today, however, thanks in part to the work of organisations that fight for animal rights, more and more people are able to see what really happens on intensive farms and decide which side they are on every time they sit down at the table.