New Jersey considers sow stall ban
Bill S.1921/A.3250 is currently awaiting consideration by the State’s Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. If passed, New Jersey will become the 10th US state to force pig farmers to phase out sow gestation crates and give breeding animals room to turn around.
A recent survey by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research revealed that the large majority of New Jersey voters (91%) already support Bill S.1921/A.3250. In order to encourage New Jersey citizens to urge their state assembly members to co-sponsor the Bill, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has released a video, which it claims shows the suffering that sows experience when housed in gestation crates.
The video features a message from New Jersey senator Raymond Lesniak, who says: “It’s a simple bill. It simply requires that, at the very least, breeding pigs should be able to stand up, turn around and extend their limbs. Everyone should support such a humane concept, and we need your help to get this legislation through the assembly.”
HSUS’ New Jersey state director Kathleen Schatzmann said: “We thank Senator Lesniak for his leadership in championing this important animal protection legislation. It’s inhumane to confine pigs in crates barely larger than the size of their bodies for years on end, and New Jersey citizens want to ensure that gestation crates no longer remain legal in the Garden State.”
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon and Rhode Island have already banned gestation crates. Massachusetts is also currently considering a ban. In addition, US processors Smithfield Foods, Hormel Foods and Cargill, and foodservice giants including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Safeway and Campbell Soup Co, have committed to removing gestation crates from their supply chain.
