Video supplied by Mercy For Animals

The animal advocate group Mercy for Animals Wednesday released video what it says is "chicken abuse" at a Pennsylvania egg farm it wants ShopRite's parent company to stop using as a supplier.

The California-based group said the footage was taken at Shady Brae Farms in Marietta, Pennsylvania, and shows hens inside extremely small cages in which they cannot walk freely or spread their wings. The video is aimed at getting ShopRite's New Jersey-based owner, Wakefern, to stop using eggs from caged chickens.

The birds in the cages — which have other dead birds inside — can be seen trampling each other to get to food and water. Many of the birds have swollen eyes, extreme feather loss and other problems, the group said, arguing the video demonstrates improper veterinary care.

New Jersey 101.5 could not independently verify the claims made or contents depicted in the video.

Karen Maleta, a spokeswoman for ShopRite, said that when the group made the company aware of the video, ShopRite immediately contacted an animal welfare expert from Penn State to visit the farm. The expert's preliminary report "did not find abuses. They believe the farm was within guidelines and standards for a UEP certified facility," Maleta said.

A USDA inspector also went to the farm at ShopRite's request, she said.

"We have a no tolerance policy for animal abuse," Maleta said. "We expect that all of our suppliers adhere to standards and include humane treatment of animals."

Maleta said Shady Brae is not a regular supplier and ShopRite does not deal directly with the farm.

"They come through another supplier," Maleta said. "They are  less than 1 percent of our eggs."

Vice president of Mercy for Animals Vice President Nick Cooney said his group is calling upon ShopRite "to stop supporting egregious animal abuse and commit to a 100 percent cage-free policy for all eggs sold in its stores, which virtually every other grocery chain in the country has already committed to doing."

Walmart, Kroger, Safeway, Costco, Target and Albertson's, the parent company of Acme are among the chains Cooney said have pledged to go cage-free with their eggs.

Maleta said ShopRite, with 112 locations in New Jersey, has committed to "source 100 percent cage-free eggs for our private label brand, based on available supply, by 2025." The private-label brand makes up ShopRite's sales, she said.

ShopRite can confirm that the private-label line uses cage-free products but cannot do so for other sources, according to Maleta.

A spokesman for Shady Brae Farm told the Associated Press the man who shot the video for Mercy for Animals worked at the farm for less than five weeks and was "negligent in his responsibilities."

The farm said the man disregarded required procedures for taking care of the birds and maintaining barns, then took video of the "damage he had done."

The company says it had poultry care experts conduct an audit Monday and that the review showed it met or exceeded all animal-welfare standards.

Maleta said that industry-wide, 90 percent of all eggs sold are from caged birds. She said that ShopRite's competitors have a goal to be 100 percent cage-free by 2025.

"The eggs you purchase in any other store, unless they are labeled free range (are not)," she said. "There's this confusion as if we're the only one selling eggs from birds in cages. The entire industry, that's where they are. That's why its taking 10 years to get to that cage-free goal."

Converting the egg supply to all-cage-free will take time and resources to accomplish, Maleta said. She said new barns and housing will have to be built, and new sources of food will have to be grown.

Cooney said that it's a step in the right direction, but "unfortunately it does nothing for the hens who are crammed in tiny cages to produce eggs under other labels at ShopRite."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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