If you’ve driven up Vine Street anytime recently, you’ve probably heard them.
Animal rights activists are blowing whistles, playing drums, and being as loud as possible outside Kroger’s Over-the-Rhine headquarters to protest the grocery chain’s decision to renege on switching to 100% cage-free eggs.
“We’ve been out here every single morning, and we’re committing to continue to be out here every single morning until they adopt that cage-free policy,” said Scott, a member of the organization Animal Equality who was leading the protest on Wednesday morning and did not give his last name.
Each day, the group has stood outside the grocery titan’s main office building from 8-9:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. holding signs that read “Keep your cage-free promise” and “WhoIsRonSargent.com” to raise awareness of Kroger’s board of directors, led by Ron Sargent, changing course on their cage-free egg policy. The protest times directly correspond with when employees arrive and leave work at Kroger’s headquarters.
In 2016, the corporation promised it would sell only 100% cage-free eggs by 2025, and reaffirmed that promise in 2018. But in 2022, the corporation quietly announced it would no longer be meeting that goal, as “cage-free egg supply continues to outpace customer demand,” per the company’s statement.
“They made a promise where they said all of that would be happening by 2025. Here we are in 2026 and they broke that promise,” Scott said.
Plenty of public figures across the country have commented on Kroger’s decision to change course.
For example, in 2023, Jason Evans of the Michigan attorney general’s office published a letter directed at Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen. In the letter, he noted that “Kroger shoppers are being misled into buying eggs from caged hens wrongly thinking they are cage-free,” and requested that Kroger post clear signage about which eggs are cage-free because consumers “deserve at least that” in “today’s inflationary environment.”
As of 2026, 10 states have banned the production or sale of caged-hen eggs: Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Washington. Banning the sale of caged-hen eggs effectively ends the practice entirely since even out-of-state producers are affected.
Ohio has passed a law banning new caged-hen permits, but has not outlawed it entirely, leaving farms who currently operate with a caged-hen system free to continue production. Scott hopes that one day the state will fully ban the practice and make the state’s hens 100% cage-free.
“Keeping hens in cages is banned in many, many states because it’s so cruel,” he said. “So, by speaking up for these hens, we’re getting rid of trying to get rid of that cruelty all throughout Kroger… we’re here to speak up for animals, and we’re loud for animals. The way they live right now is absolutely miserable, and the hens deserve better.”
So how long will the protestors continue? Days, weeks, months, even years?
“As long as it takes,” Scott said. “We’re making a lot of noise for the hens, because they can’t. They’re trapped in small wire cages, where they’re not able to turn around, they’re not able to spread their wings. Their entire life is absolutely miserable. And we’re going to be out here every day until they adopt that policy.”
