New Jersey Pressures Ag Officials for Farm Animal Standards

April 29, 2002

Still waiting for agriculture officials to draft guidelines for the humane treatment of farm animals six years after New Jersey enacted legislation mandating such standards, animal protection organizations, municipalities and even an Assemblywoman are pressuring the Garden State to fulfill its promise to become a pioneer in farm animal welfare.

In 1996, the state enacted legislation that called for the "humane raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing, and sale of domestic livestock." Once the law's guidelines were established, New Jersey would become the only state with a comprehensive set of standards for the humane treatment of farm animals. However, it has been nearly six years since then, and the New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture has yet to draft a working set of guidelines for farmers.

The animal protection community has decided turned up the heat on the NJ Ag Department to put the law into effect. Farm Sanctuary, a national farm animal protection group, organized a rally and factory-farming forum on April 7 and 8 to draw attention to the cruel practices currently employed in New Jersey and throughout the United States, including veal crates for calves, gestation crates for breeding sows, and battery cages for laying hens.

Participants at the rally also lobbied their legislators to publicize the plight of the millions of animals living in factory farms. Several prominent members of the animal protection community made presentations, including Wayne Pacelle, senior vice president of the Humane Society of the United States. The HSUS co-sponsored the event along with Farm Sanctuary, Compassion in World Farming, and The Fund for Animals.

In another action to draw attention to the humane laws languishing on the books, Morristown, a Garden State town with an agricultural heritage, became the first municipality to declare that farm animals are "sentient beings...capable of feeling and suffering." Farm Sanctuary drafted Morristown's proclamation which also states that humans "have an ethical responsibility to refrain from causing unnecessary pain and suffering to other sentient beings," a position backed by the city's Mayor John J. Delaney.

Following in Morristown's lead, the towns of Cedar Grove and Newark have also enacted similar proclamations declaring farm animals sentient beings.

On the state level, Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg (D-District 37) recently introduced legislation to outlaw the inhumane methods of veal production in New Jersey. The Weinberg bill would prohibit the practices of tethering calves in "veal crates" and provide the animals with enough room to turn around. It would also prohibit feeding calves an iron- and fiber-deficient diet which causes anemia.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture has received more than 20,000 comments from the public denouncing these and other factory-farming practices. Assemblywoman Weinberg urged her colleagues in the New Jersey legislature to "recognize the physical and emotional needs of calves and require that they be treated humanely."

New Jersey may become the nation's most farm-animal friendly state if the veal bill passes and if the state ag department makes good on its commitment to uphold farm animal welfare. The Humane Society of the United States has been working with state ag officials, offering our support and expertise.

"We applaud the state's progress so far," says Dr. Michael Appleby, HSUS vice president of farm animals and sustainable agriculture. "We hope New Jersey sets a standard that the rest of the country will follow."

The veal bill is quickly coming up for consideration, and your support is needed. Read our action alert in the Related Information field to learn how you can help.

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