NATIONAL cruelty-free retailer, The Body Shop, has joined the Free Chook 2000 campaign to ban the battery cage.

For a fortnight in July (10-23 July 2000) the 66 Body Shop stores across the nation will be promoting Yellow Beak Day (July 23). It provides another opportunity to demonstrate the widespread public support for a ban on the battery cage.Yellow Beak Day is a day in which members of the public are being asked to wear a yellow beak, or for those who are too shy, a badge, to publicise the plight of the battery hen.

Wearing a beak or a badge is a small sacrifice given a battery hen lives her life in less space than an A4 piece of paper unable to nest, perch or spread her wings. The yellow beak is intended to serve as a reminder that hens deserve to live a happy life. The Body Shop promotion will also involve distribution of a postcard addressed to the agriculture ministers urging them to introduce an immediate ban on the battery cage. The postcard will feature another of the campaign's celebrity supporters, Australian supermodel Annalise Braakensiek.

State and Territory agriculture ministers will meet in Brisbane on August 18 where they will discuss the battery cage. In March, when they last met they agreed moving away from the battery cage system was inevitable.

Yellow Beak Day provides Animal Liberation members and supporters with another chance to impress upon family, friends and work mates the inherent cruelty which goes hand-in-hand with the battery cage. Why not try to encourage those you know to visit the nearest Body Shop during the fortnight and participate in Yellow Beak Day.

The Body Shop will be selling the beaks and badges to members of the public at a small cost, the postcards will be free. Any profit raised through the sales will be shared among the participating groups and go towards defraying costs associated with years of battery hen campaigning.

For all the latest news and events in the Free Chook 2000 campaign don't forget to regularly visit the campaign webpage at http://www.animal-lib.org.au/freechook2000

This article courtesy of Animal Liberation NSW.