Californians to Vote on End to Animal Cruelty with Prop 2

On November 4, 2008, California voters will get a chance to weigh in on the initiative that will help to stop animal cruelty practices in factory farming. The measure is proposition 2, which is also known as the prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. The act is being put on the ballot so that voters can have a chance to vote on and demand that farm factories provide better treatment of their animals; cows, chickens, pigs, horses, and so on. Arizona, Florida, Colorado and the European union have all gradually been phasing out extreme cruelty through confinements.

Proposition 2 is aimed at putting a ban on battery cages, which prevent the hens from spreading their wings, walking, perching or freely behaving as they do in a natural condition. Pregnant pigs face confinement in gestation cages that disallow them to move about and there are more horrible treatments of various animals. It will end these cages of bondage, and require that farming factories provide enough room for animals to move about and stretch their limbs. Farmers will be given until 2015 to completely phase into better ways of raining farm animals.

The Sierra club, California Veterinary Medical Association all endorse this initiative.Vegetarians support this initiative; in fact most vegetarians I know turned away from meat due to the cruelty nature of animal handling. They rather go "meatless' they say, instead of indirectly participating in this cruelty.

The opponents of Prop 2 are not surprisingly corporate agricultural businesses who want to continue to cage egg-laying hens in battery cages, and maintain the lack of free movement and feeding in clean area for a lot of thee animals, and the list of horrible treatments goes on. For them, money is the issue; they don't want to spend more if they don't have to. But consumers need to demand better.

If you love your beef, chicken and pork, then you should be able to impact the way things are handled in the farms. Proposition 2 is not asking people to stop eating meat, or to stop raising animals. What is asks is that those who raise these animals give them quality treatment so that when they do make it to your dinner table, you are getting a healthy piece of meat. We are being asked to support sustainable and humane farming practices at the farms and slaughterhouses.

I am very glad that this proposition is on the ballot. Last fall, the Human Society, who endorses this initiative by the way, exposed the ill treatment of cows at a Chino meat factory. The Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company in Chino had 143 million pounds of beef recalled earlier this year. Do we have to wait for another investigation by the Human Society or another massive beef recall to start making changes? The dangers of mad cow disease and other e-coli or salmonella species should be ample warning for us to do something about our meat safety.

I hope this proposition passes in November because we have had our fair share of contaminated food; the massive beef, tomatoes, spinach, and jalapenos recalls of recent months are enough. The agribusinesses need to spend some money and give these animals some space and better treatments. Let your voice be heard on November 4!

Source:
http://www.humanecalifornia.org/