Sia calls on Costco to switch to cage-free eggs
Australian singer and songwriter Sia is following in the footsteps of other celebrities, including Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt and Bill Maher, in urging Costco Wholesale (COST) to rid its supply chain of eggs from hens housed in cages.
In a letter Monday to Costco CEO Craig Jelinek, the pop singer, whose full name is Sia Furler, said she is among the "majority who believe in treating animals well. Please tell me that birds will no longer be caged in filth with the mummified corpses of their dead cage mates. If you ask any Costco member how they feel about forcing birds into a life of torture, I guarantee they'll question your company's moral compass."
Costco in 2007 signaled it would set a timeline for going cage free, but has not made any move toward achieving that goal in the eight years since.
In an Op-Ed in The New York Times titled "Free the Hens, Costco!", the satirist and host of HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" made the same appeal last month.
Actor Ryan Gosling became the first celebrity to in June call on the discount retailer to make the shift to cage-free eggs, with actor and producer Brad Pitt weighing in not long after.
Last week, the Humane Society of the United States took its public relations fight against Costco to the symbolic heart of the media world, with the animal welfare group broadcasting graphic footage of hens allegedly being mistreated at a Pennsylvania supplier of eggs to Costco on a 1,700 square-foot billboard in Times Square.
The group shot the undercover footage as part of a campaign to pressure the retailer to only sell eggs from cage-free hens.
Costco spokesperson Bob Nelson said the company was not interested in commenting on the issue.