The Commissioner of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services for the Government of Tamil Nadu, the second largest egg producing state in India, has requested the Regional Joint Directors and District Officers to ensure that the state's egg producers comply with the Animal Welfare Board of India's order to immediately discontinue starvation force moulting regimes.

According to Humane Society International (HSI), in March, the Animal Welfare Board of India confirmed that starvation force molting is a punishable offence under India's Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, and ordered all egg production facilities to immediately discontinue the practice.

N.G. Jayasimha, manager of HSI's factory farming campaign in India, commented: "We are grateful to the Government of Tamil Nadu and we certainly expect that egg laying farms will comply with this order. Egg producers who continue to starve birds to induce moult must be prosecuted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act."

HSI urges anyone with information about a farm inducing moulting by starvation to email this confidential drop box: [email protected].