Actor and activist Brad Pitt penned a personal letter to Costco CEO Craig Jelinek calling for a speedy removal of egg-laying hens from crammed cages.

Sent Thursday, the letter was written on behalf of Farm Sanctuary, an organization aimed at rescuing and protecting abused farm animals. Pitt joins contemporary Bill Maher, who recently called for the wholesale giant to stop selling eggs from caged hens on behalf of the same group in a New York Times op-ed earlier this month.

"Nearly a decade ago, Costco indicated that its next step on this issue would be creating a timeline for getting those cages out of your egg supply," Pitt wrote in the one-page letter, "and yet today, you appear to have made no progress at all."

Pitt reminded Jelinek the cages from which the company's hens lay their eggs are extremely cramped, "not large enough for even one hen to spread her wings."

"In these cruel cages, the animals' muscles and bones atrophy from years of immobilization," Pitt explained. "That's why the cages are illegal in most of Europe, and why California banned the cages by an overwhelming vote years ago."

Maher's letter described in detail the conditions in which hens live out their lives. "According to the industry itself, each hen in a battery cage is given less than 9 inches by 9 inches," of space, he said. The chickens are "crammed into a cage about the size of a file drawer with for or more other hens."

"Make no mistake about it," he continued, "battery cages torment animals. Physically, the animals' muscles and bones waste away from lack of use, just as yours wold if you were unable to move around for two years."

Last month, Ryan Gosling also sent the Costco headman a letter responding to a Humane Society investigation of an egg supplier connected with the corporation, calling for the elimination of cages for the hens.

"It is appalling that Costco has been selling these eggs with deceptive labeling on cartons featuring graphics of birds living out in a green pasture," Gosling said. "You're already eliminating cages for veal calves and pigs -- don't you feel that chickens also deserve the same mercy?"

Pitt's letter supports his fellow actors' calls for the egg reform in his frank letter, saying, "cramming hens into cages for their entire lives constitutes cruelty to animals, and animals deserve better."
Source: UPI