Ryan Gosling penned an open letter to Costco earlier this week, calling for cage-free conditions for the chickens that provide the retailer's eggs. Gosling says he wrote the letter in reference to an undercover investigation into one of Costco's egg suppliers by The Humane Society of the United States.
The video below, which contains graphic material, shows footage from the investigation into major egg producer Hillandale Farms:
Gosling claims that the conditions provided for Hillandale's chickens are deplorable, considering the video footage showed what he referred to as "abhorrent cruelty" toward the birds. The investigation revealed live hens locked in small cages with dead and decomposing chickens, rotting and fly-covered broken eggs on the facility's floor, and birds with injuries caused by cage wires.
"Furthermore, 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 wrote. "You’re already eliminating cages for veal calves and pigs –- don’t you feel that chickens also deserve the same mercy?"
You can read the entire letter to Costco's CEO at cagefreefuture.com. A Hillandale representative, meanwhile, told ABC News the company has launched an investigation into the conditions seen in the video. Costco has not yet responded to a request for comment from The Huffington Post.
Gosling has argued for better treatment of animals before. The actor previously blogged for The Huffington Post in 2013 regarding the treatment of farm animals in cages, arguing that confined pigs "suffer beyond anything most of us can easily imagine."
H/T Bustle
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