Making Hay

Ohio Livestock Board Turns Back on Veal Calves

 

By Gene

Last year, caring citizens took to the streets across the state of Ohio and helped collect 500,000 signatures of registered voters to place an initiative on the statewide ballot to ban some of the cruelest forms of factory farming confinement: veal crates for calves, gestation crates for pigs, and battery cages for egg-laying hens. On the day these signatures were to be turned in, agribusiness came to the table and negotiated a compromise agreement, brokered by former Governor Ted Strickland, to phase out veal and gestation crates, and to prevent the construction of any new battery cage operations.

The newly-created Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board (OLCSB) is responsible for implementing parts of the agreement, but recently voted to allow calves to be confined in veal crates, where they are kept in a state of misery, for most of their lives. This is a blatant violation of the compromise agreement and an affront to basic animal welfare principles. If you live in Ohio, please write to the OLCSB and urge them to reverse their position on veal crates when they meet again on April 5.

We can still submit the 500,000 signatures we collected last year to place this issue before Ohio voters, and if the OLCSB insists on defending veal crates, we’ll be heading to the ballot!

More Change Possible for Downed Animals – You Can Help

 

By Alison

It all began with the rescue of Hilda, a downed sheep left to die on a dead pile 25 years ago. With a little kindness and compassion, this suffering sheep, who had been callously tossed aside at a stockyard, regained her health and became an ambassador for farm animals everywhere. Ever since Hilda’s rescue, Farm Sanctuary has been dedicated to ending the suffering of animals too ill, injured or weak to stand or walk, and making great strides in changing laws and policies to protect them through our No Downers Campaign. Now, with your help, we have the opportunity to inspire another big step forward.

Like Hilda, more than a million farm animals become downed every year. And, sadly, they are often subjected to extreme abuse and neglect. In 2009, recognizing the enormous potential for inhumane treatment and food safety risks associated with slaughtering downed animals, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced a rule to prohibit the slaughter of downed cattle and require that they be humanely euthanized at U.S. slaughterhouses. Though this rule was a step in the right direction for cattle, other farm animals, including pigs, goats and sheep, were left unprotected.

Last year, Farm Sanctuary submitted a petition for rulemaking to the USDA requesting that the agency extend the 2009 rule to include other farm animals. What ultimately became a ban on downed cattle slaughter was inspired by an undercover investigation revealing horrendous abuse of downed cows at a California slaughter plant that Farm Sanctuary had also investigated in 1993. Video footage and other evidence showed workers kicking cows, forcefully prodding them with the blades of a forklift, jabbing them repeatedly in the eyes and other sensitive areas, and even forcing water up a cow’s nose to simulate drowning and force the animal to rise. What the USDA has failed to recognize, however, is that countless pigs, goats and sheep are subjected to similar abuse and deserve the same protections.

Because a downed pig, sheep or goat who doesn’t make it to the kill floor could mean a loss in profits, and because, unlike cattle, they are still eligible for slaughter, workers often stop at nothing to force them through the disassembly line. As cited in our petition, slaughterhouse non-compliance reports demonstrate time and again that workers treat suffering downed pigs, goats and sheep with horrific cruelty – shocking, kicking, beating, and dragging them to slaughter. One report details workers allowing pigs to trample a downer in an alley, while others recount downed pigs squealing and struggling as workers beat and kick them. Still more describe ailing sheep and goats being left to suffer without food, water or veterinary treatment. And beyond these non-compliance reports is the extensive evidence Farm Sanctuary has collected first hand while carrying out investigations of our own through the years – starting way back in 1986 when Hilda was rescued and the organization was first born.

It’s time that the USDA recognizes that all farm animals are capable of suffering and that the same basic protections currently afforded to cattle should be extended to other animals as well. Fortunately, we may be one step closer. On February 7, 2011, the USDA responded to our petition by announcing that it will accept public comment on the issue. Now is our chance to show the agency that our nation’s citizens won’t ignore the suffering of downed animals and demand that they extend the rule to include pigs, sheep and goats. Please join us in urging the USDA to take this logical and necessary next step.

Anti-Confinement Progress: The Massachusetts Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act

 

by Allan Kornberg, M.D.

As Farm Sanctuary’s executive director, I spend a lot of my time traveling across the country to advocate on behalf of farm animals. But at the end of the day, I call Massachusetts my home. That’s why I’m excited to announce that, as part of our Anti-Confinement Campaign, we’ll be working in the Commonwealth this year to pass an important bill that would ban the cruelest forms of confinement for farm animals — the Massachusetts Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act.

It’s not news that the animal agriculture industry views farm animals as mere commodities. It’s this widespread conception that has led to institutionalized cruelty in the form of battery cages, veal crates and gestation crates. In these confinement systems, millions of egg-laying hens, calves and breeding pigs spend the majority of their lives in dark warehouses, behind bars and barely able to move. Farm Sanctuary’s Anti-Confinement Campaign aims to eliminate these particularly abhorrent conditions through state legislation, the ballot box and public education and outreach, and, thanks to our members and supporters, we’ve got a successful history to build upon in 2011 and in coming years. 

Seven states have now enacted laws to ban one or more of these confinement systems. This year, we hope to add Massachusetts to that list. This bill, recently introduced by Senator Robert Hedlund and Representative Jason Lewis, would prohibit the cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that prevents them from standing up, lying down, turning around freely, or fully extending their limbs.

At least 17,000 egg-laying hens in Massachusetts are confined in battery cage facilities each year. As a resident of the Commonwealth, I know that if compassionate people of Massachusetts — and Americans everywhere — knew the truth behind factory farming, they would reject these shocking and abusive practices. In fact, the city of Pittsfield has already enacted a local ordinance prohibiting these three confinement systems. And Cambridge and Brookline have passed resolutions encouraging residents to avoid products of intensive confinement, including veal and eggs from battery caged hens.

By working together with our members and supporters, I believe it’s only a matter of time before we can change the hearts and minds of lawmakers across the U.S. and make these cruel cages and crates things of the past. If you’re a fellow Commonwealth resident, please join me in supporting the Massachusetts Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act and help put this crucial law on the books. If you live elsewhere, you can still help us build on this momentum by taking action today to push for anti-confinement legislation in your state.

Smithfield Investigation Shines Light on Pervasive Animal Cruelty: Your Action Needed

 

By Gene

Recently, the Humane Society of the U.S. released undercover video exposing inhumane conditions at a Smithfield breeding farm where sows are confined in crates in warehouses, unable to move or engage in basic natural behaviors. Across the U.S., more than 5 million female sows are used for breeding, and they live most of their lives in “gestation crates,” 2-foot-wide metal enclosures where the animals are so severely confined that they cannot walk or even turn around. These conditions are so cruel that they are banned across Europe, and they are also now illegal in several U.S. states as well.

In 2007, after Arizona became the second U.S. state to ban gestation crates, Smithfield, the world’s largest pork producer, publicly announced that they would phase out gestation crates, and they gave themselves a generous 10 year period in which to do so. Then, just two years later in 2009, Smithfield went back on their public announcement and said they didn’t intend to meet their goal of phasing out crates in 10 years.

For more than a decade, Farm Sanctuary has worked to end the use of gestation crates in the U.S. The first law banning gestation crates in America was passed in Florida in 2002. In 2006, Arizona became the second state to ban these cruel devices, and since then, Oregon, Colorado, California, Maine, and Michigan have outlawed gestation crates. There is currently an agreement in place to prohibit these inhumane devices in Ohio as well.

It is unconscionable that animals are treated like mere units of production on factory farms. Like all animals, farm animals have feelings and they deserve to be treated with respect; agribusiness needs to be reminded of that fact. Please contact Smithfield and urge them to make good on their promise to phase out gestation crates. There is no excuse for animal abuse.

 

Justice Near for Pennsylvania Pigs: Farm Owner Charged with 832 Counts of Animal Cruelty

 

By Gene

For more than 832 animals who died a horrific and lonely death in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, justice may be near. Daniel Clark, the farm owner who allegedly abandoned hundreds of pigs dependent on him for their very survival, has been charged with 832 counts of animal cruelty. To all who took action by contacting the district attorney and urging prosecution, we thank you for speaking up and being these pigs’ voice.

According to the criminal complaint, which was filed by Pennsylvania State Police last Thursday, Clark was the sole caretaker responsible for the pigs on his Fulton County property, but he “le[ft] them to die” without adequate food, water or shelter. The pigs were likely subjected to freezing temperatures while confined in a barn with no means of escape and no one to help them. Authorities believe that Clark may have left the property as early as February 2009, though the animals' bodies were left undiscovered until just last month.

Because the animals were found in varying states of decay, it was difficult for authorities to assess the magnitude of this tragedy. Early reports estimated the number of deceased pigs at 925 to 1000. Later reports indicated the number may have been nearer to 500. Several of the bodies were so decomposed that authorities were unable to determine some of the animals’ species, though investigators suspect at least six of the 832 animals who perished may have been calves. 

Though we are encouraged that authorities are taking this case seriously by holding Clark responsible, whether justice will be truly served is yet to be seen. Under Pennsylvania law, each of the 832 counts of cruelty carries a minimum fine of only $50, highlighting how unfairly farm animals can be treated in a society that exploits them for food and all too often fails to recognize them as living, feeling individuals. The maximum sentence for each animal cruelty count, however, is up to $750 and 90 days in jail and we remain hopeful that maximum allowable penalties will be enforced.

At best, the resolution of this heartbreaking case of unconscionable cruelty will stand as a reminder that the public cares about farm animals and demands that they be treated with compassion and respect. We will continue to follow this case, taking action on the animals’ behalf where possible, and we will keep you updated.

 

925 Pigs Found Dead on Pennsylvania Farm, Your Voice Needed

 

by Gene

The investigation is ongoing, but preliminary reports indicate that starvation or some sort of mass disease are the likely cause of death for 925 pigs found on an abandoned property in Fulton County, Pennsylvania early last week. Authorities are calling it an “apparent act of animal cruelty.”

Whether these animals died of disease or starvation, to let them suffer in a barn with no way out and no help from human hands shows unconscionable neglect, and we are urging local authorities to prosecute those responsible for this intolerable tragedy.

The animals were found early last week by a prospective buyer who visited the property and discovered hundreds of dead pigs in varying stages of decay. The ASCPA is helping local authorities with the investigation and autopsies are underway. Evidence suggests that some of the animals tried to escape the confinement barn and bodies were found outside of the facility.

According to authorities and local media reports, the farm’s owner, Daniel Clark, left the property in August, and the pigs appear to have been dead for several months. We will keep you updated on this case as it progresses, but in the meantime, we are asking people to contact the local District Attorney to urge prosecution.

It is important for citizens to speak out for the hundreds of animals who suffered so terribly at the hands of their negligent “owners.” We need the public to rally around this case so it doesn’t disappear into obscurity. Authorities and the media need to know that people care and that farm animals have feelings and deserve to be treated with respect. Animals exploited for food are so demeaned today that when we read news articles about their suffering and death, these animals are often referenced in terms of their monetary value. It’s important to remind the public that pigs and other farm animals are individuals with feelings. They are intelligent and sentient, just like cats or dogs. These pigs died a horrible, merciless death, struggling for freedom, and no one came to their rescue. Imagine if these were dogs found starved to death by the hundreds in a warehouse. The public would be outraged, and that should be the case here too.

Please contact the Fulton County District Attorney to ask that he seek justice for these pigs and prosecute the responsible parties to the fullest extent of the law.

 

Ending the Use of Live Animals in Medical Training Courses

 

by Allan Kornberg, M.D.

An increasing number of Americans are aware of the suffering farm animals in the agriculture industry endure, but many people are surprised to learn that they are also subjected to cruelty in the name of medicine. In the past, it wasn’t uncommon for live animals to be used as models to teach physicians how to treat injuries and perform medical procedures – a practice that has troubled me ever since I was a medical student. These days, subjecting live animals to these procedures is not only cruel, but also virtually unnecessary due to impressive developments in medical training tools.

At some point in their medical careers, many physicians are required to complete an Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course, where they learn how to perform certain procedures to treat trauma injuries. These procedures can be extremely invasive, often requiring incisions into the neck, chest or abdomen, and cause suffering when performed on live animals. Fortunately, life-like human body simulators, such as Simulab’s TraumaMan, offer effective and compassionate alternatives.

However, despite the success of new training methods that do not require the use of animals, an estimated five percent of medical centers continue to subject sentient beings to needless cruelty in their ATLS courses. Sadly, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) in Pennsylvania is one of these few remaining institutions that uses live pigs as models for their trauma training. Usually, the animals are killed shortly after the procedures.

Pigs are sensitive, social animals who don’t deserve to be subjected to these cruel and unnecessary practices. As a physician who has worked to end the use of live animals in similar courses in the past, I know that proper medical training can be achieved without subjecting animals to such abuse. That’s why we’re asking you to join us in calling on UPMC officials to extend their compassion to animals and end the use of live pigs in ATLS training. Please take action today and help bring about positive change.
 

Important Progress for Farm Animals in Ohio

 

by Gene

Over the past year, more than 500,000 Ohio citizens signed a petition aimed at placing an initiative on the statewide ballot this November to ban cruel factory farming practices. Those signatures gathered by tireless volunteers, many of whom were Farm Sanctuary members, were to be submitted this week, kicking off an initiative battle to be waged over the course of the next several months. However, at the eleventh hour, as it became clear that we had enough signatures to make it on the ballot, agribusiness came to the table and an agreement was brokered by Ohio’s Governor Stickland. Here’s what came of the agreement pertaining to farm animals:

• A ban on veal crates, to be phased out within six years, as outlined in the ballot initiative.
• A ban on new gestation crates in the state after December 31, 2010. Existing facilities are grandfathered, but must cease use of these crates within 15 years.
• A permanent moratorium on permits for new battery cage facilities in place immediately.
• A ban on the transport of downed cows and calves for slaughter, as outlined in the ballot initiative.
• A ban on strangulation and other forms of on farm killing that are not included in euthanasia standards as outlined by the American Veterinary Medical Association and part of the ballot initiative.
• Enactment of legislation establishing felony-level penalties for cock fighters.

This agreement didn’t accomplish everything we would like, as quickly as we would like, but we will continue raising awareness and actively fighting to ban these intolerably cruel systems. And, if agribusiness doesn’t comply with this agreement, we have the option to go back to the ballot with the 500,000 signatures already gathered.

Ohio has been known for its exceptionally weak animal protection laws and, as the second largest egg producer, it is among the most entrenched factory farming states in the U.S., so these developments are especially important. The moratorium on new egg laying facilities includes putting a stop to plans for a six million hen battery cage operation that was in the final stages of approval. And no less than six new gestation crate facilities were in the works in the state. We have driven a spike into the cogs of factory farming and agribusiness leaders are finally coming to recognize that treating cows, pigs, chickens and other animals as mere production units is inconsistent with popular sentiments.

When citizens speak up, change is inevitable. Agribusiness never would have come to the table had it not been for all the volunteers giving their time and commitment to this cause by gathering signatures and gaining endorsements. We are proud to have stood alongside these volunteers as well as several organizations working toward one common goal to end cruel factory farming practices in Ohio. The movement to protect farm animals is gaining momentum, and the reforms announced this week in Ohio will reverberate in Washington, D.C. and send ripples across the United States.

Time to Dig Deep for the Animals

 

By Gene

Across the U.S., hundreds of millions of farm animals, including calves raised for veal, sows exploited for breeding and hens used for egg production, are confined in crates and cages so tightly that they cannot walk, turn around or stretch their limbs. The animals experience both physical and psychological disorders, and their confinement is so cruel that it is being phased out across Europe. Seven U.S. states have now enacted legislation to reform inhumane factory farming systems, including California, where Farm Sanctuary worked alongside citizens in the Golden State to pass a voter initiative that won by a two to one margin in 2008, outlawing veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages. One year later, the Michigan legislature enacted a similar law. But, unlike agricultural leaders and lawmakers in other states, agribusiness officials in Ohio and their legislative cronies have vehemently opposed basic humane reforms.

Public opinion polls in Ohio demonstrate that Ohioans, like citizens in other states, believe that farm animals deserve to be treated with respect and should not be crowded into cages and crates so tightly that they cannot even turn around or stretch their limbs. Now, given the failure of Ohio’s legislature to address these issues, Farm Sanctuary and thousands of citizens across the state are mobilizing, collecting signatures to place an initiative on the statewide ballot to alleviate the suffering of 27 million farm animals who live in veal crates, gestation crates and battery cages in Ohio.

As you read this, Ohio’s animals are suffering and volunteers are in the streets, working hard to make a difference. We have collected more than 160,000 signatures, but there is still a long way to go to obtain the 600,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. If you live in Ohio, or know anybody who does, please get involved. This effort is absolutely crucial.

If we are victorious in Ohio, it will enhance our ability to create needed changes in other states, as well as in Washington, D.C. It’s time to dig deep. The animals are counting on us: www.ohiohumane.org.

With “Hope” and “Faith,” Kids Teach Us All about Compassion

By Beth Begany

A group of preschoolers at a Montessori school in central Pennsylvania were recently inspired by a visit from Farm Sanctuary President and Co-Founder Gene Baur, who read them the story of Hope, a rescued pig.

Gene was in the area to speak at Penn State, and he was happy to accept an invitation from local Farm Sanctuary members Denise Goodman and Todd Denlinger, who asked whether Gene would like to come to their son’s school.

“It’s always great to be able to talk to kids,” Gene says. “They have such a wonderful capacity for empathy and caring, and they really identify with the stories of the animals we’ve been able to rescue and bring to sanctuary.”

Lynn Chaplin, the school’s director, was enthusiastic about Gene coming to talk, seeing in it the potential to help foster her students’ deep respect and love for nature and animals.

“The future will be in their hands,” she says. “The more they know, the better that future will be.”

The group of pre-schoolers (along with their teachers and some parents) listened intently to Hope’s story, and then they shared a lunch catered by a local vegan eatery.

And, while Hope’s story was very moving, Denise and Todd thought it would really help the kids identify with farm animals if they did something more. So, the class “adopted” Faith cow through our classroom adoption program. The class received a photo of Faith, an animal fact sheet, and each student received a personal adoption certificate. 

Faith’s portrait is now hanging proudly in the classroom.

“Faith’s story is particularly appropriate, because her rescue was orchestrated by a 12-year-old girl,” Gene explains. “The lesson here is that kids can be powerful agents of compassion and change.”

Top photo: Faith at Farm Sanctuary's New York Shelter