In what animal welfare activists are hailing as a "historic advance," Burger King Holdings Inc. said Tuesday it is sourcing pork and eggs from suppliers that do not confine their animals in crates and cages.

The world's second-largest hamburger chain said its new animal welfare program would also give preference to suppliers of chickens that use controlled-atmospheric stunning to jolt birds unconscious before being slaughtered.

Few U.S. producers follow the relatively new practice that has been shown to cause less suffering than the conventional method of paralyzing birds in electrified vats of water.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) said it and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have been talking with the fast-food giant for more than a year about improving its farm animal standards.

The move comes a week after Wolfgang Puck announced the implementation of a wide-ranging program to improve animal welfare in his supply chain, including not using foie gras, battery cage eggs, pork or veal from crated sows and calves. The celebrity chef's initiative was also spurred by discussions with HSUS.

"The more consumers learn about factory farming cruelties, the more they insist upon better treatment for animals," said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and chief executive officer. "With its new policy changes, Burger King is signaling to agribusiness that the most inhumane factory farming practices are on the way out."

Burger King is already purchasing 10 percent of its pork from producers that do not confine breeding pigs in gestation crates, and is pledging to double that volume by the end of the year.

The chain also currently sources two percent of its eggs from producers that do not confine laying hens in battery cages, and plans to hike that percentage of cage-free eggs to five percent by the end of 2007.

The company said it plans to increase those volumes as more farmers shift to more humane animal raising practices, raising supply and moderating prices.

The new program at Burger King impacts suppliers in North America and Canada, where the chain purchases more than 40 million pounds of eggs a year and 35 million pounds of pork, according to a report by the New York Times.

In September, Ben & Jerry's announced it was phasing out the use of eggs from caged hens in its ice creams. And, major food producers Smithfield Foods and Maple Leaf Foods said they too were phasing out use of gestation crates for pregnant sows.

World-renowned animal welfare expert and author, Temple Grandin, also an animal science professor at Colorado State University, said Smithfield's decision to ban gestation crates ­ spurred by requests from customers like McDonald's - had sent shock waves through the pork industry, the New York Times said.

"When the big boys move, it makes the entire industry move," Grandin, who serves on the animal welfare task forces for several food companies, including McDonald's and Burger King, told the NYT.

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