Mark Eden, from the Open Rescue Team and himself a hen house raider, applauded the raid on the Auckland poultry farm by so-far-anonymous members of a group calling itself the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).

The group "liberated 25 battery hens from a life of cruelty and suffering", as well as documenting the conditions inside the farm late on Friday night, according to a communique released by the underground group.

Attempts to contact the owner of the farm were today unsuccessful. Activists were raiding farms more often now due to frustration the Government would not put an end to battery hen farming, Mr Eden said.

Even the more moderate activists were growing more in favour of the raids, he said. Last year, ALF had carried out at least three or four raids on farms in the Auckland area, he said.

Source: Stuff.co.nz