RSPCA Assured has given 14-year-old Lucy Gavaghan her first experience of what a commercial farm is like, following on from the success of her online campaign to stop three of the UK’s major supermarkets selling eggs from caged hens.
Having gathered 460,000 signatures in support of her online petitions, she was invited to tour Wood Farm in Waresley, Bedfordshire, which is a member of RSPCA Assured, along with the organisation’s assessor, Rio Mellor.
“It was wonderful to meet Lucy and tell her more about the strict RSPCA welfare standards farmers have to meet in order to use the RSPCA Assured logo,” said Mr Mellor.
“It was helpful for her to see a commercial farm in action. She asked some intelligent questions about welfare and I’m sure this experience and her new knowledge will help her future campaigns.”
Charles Mears, the fourth generation of his family to farm the land, his wife Jo, and their three children showed Lucy around their 250-acre farm where they have just under 28,000 free-range hens producing about 25,000 eggs a day.
In response to the online petitions, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda have all announced they will stop selling eggs from caged hens by 2025.
Headline image shows Charles Mears and Lucy Gavaghan
