ALEX CRICHTON, HOST: A local vegetarian education group is calling on the CEO of Wegmans Food Markets to phase out the use of small cages at the company's egg farm in Wolcott. Members of the UR-VEG claim that the use of cages is cruel and constitutes animal abuse. Group member Hoss Firooznia and two others delivered more than 2,000 petition signatures stuffed into plastic eggs to the Wegmans headquarters Monday. Firooznia says they hope the signatures grab CEO Danny Wegman's attention so that a dialog can be started.

HOSS FIROOZNIA: We don't want this to be an adversarial relationship. A lot of us like Wegmans, we shop at Wegmans, we think Wegmans does a great deal of good in other areas. This is just one glaring omission. We'd like to be proud of Wegmans. They are a local grocery chain, it's nice having them here in Western New York, we are proud of them, but we feel this is one area where they really have fallen short.

CRICHTON: Wegmans says their farm in Wolcott is one of the best in the country and has passed several inspections. The company says after a recent investigation by state authorities no evidence of animal abuse was found. A Wegmans spokesperson confirmed the petitions in the plastic eggs are at the headquarters, but they wouldn't say whether or not they made it to Danny Wegman.