Animal cruelty laws and animal rights victories in US legislation
Sows in gestation crates
The good news is that more animal cruelty laws are slowly making headway into US administration. Despite fierce attempts by the food industry to fend off legislation that dampens their profits in the interest of animal welfare, many good laws have been passed for animals between 2008 and 2010. We are still far behind the European countries, but that is not surprising, given the fact that the US food production enjoys huge government subsidies and inundates the public with advertising budgets in the billions of dollars.
I am listing a few victories in passing animal cruelty laws below that will make a significant difference in the everyday suffering that animals endure in the USA.
Animal Cruelty Laws and Legislation
2010
Downer cow
- Utah's Governor signed a bill to change the state's pound-seizure law. Animal shelters are no longer required to hand over animals for lab testing.
- Massachusetts passed "Logan's Law" banning the devocalization of dogs and cats. Breeders use this cruel practice just for their convenience. Here is yet another reason to never, ever buy your pet from a breeder!
- The US House votes with overwhelming majority to prohibit the distribution and sale of crush videos. These sickening fetish videos depict women in high heels or bare feet crushing small animals - including kittens - to death. Can you even believe that such sick minds live among us? The act still needs to go through the Senate and then has to be signed by the President, hopefully this year.
2009
Calves in veal creates
- Arnold Schwarzenegger once again led the nation by signing a tail docking bill for California, which ends the painful amputation of dairy cow's tails in the state. Where can we get more Arnolds?
- Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm signed legislation to ban gestation crates, veal crates, and battery cages.
- Maine followed suit and outlawed gestation crates for pigs and veal crates in sweeping animal cruelty laws.
- President Obama reverses former President Bush's Endangered Species Act ruling. Great job Mr. President!
- President Obama issued a complete ban on downer cows to be slaughtered for human food supply. Downers are too sick or weak from their factory farm abuse to even stand up and walk. This shows once again that common food industry practices are wrong, and people who witness it demand changes!
- Oregon proved to be a rock star: it cracked down on puppy mills, outlawed the private ownership of exotic pets, added horses to the animal abandonment statute, and closed a loop-hole by making cockfighting a felony even for participants.
2008
- An immense legal victory was achieved when the NJ Supreme Court ruled unanimously that factory farming practices cannot be called humane, simply because they are widely used for many years. Go NJ Supreme Court and tell the other states!
- Californians voiced their opinion and ruled out gestation crates, veal crates, and laying hen cages with a sweeping majority of their votes for proposition 2.
- The Hallmark meat plant in Chino, CA gets shut down after undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the US discovered horrific abuse of downer cows there were allowed into human food production. A massive beef recall ensued and the plant was closed for good. Victory - one down!
Goose force-fed
for foie gras
A word about Chicago: While a foie-gras ban was enacted in 2006, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a restaurant owner and self-professed foie gras lover, led a repeal of this ban in 2008. This was a very low moment for Chicago, whose citizens overwhelmingly supported a stop to the barbarically cruel force-feeding of ducks and geese.
Foie gras is the fatty, diseased liver of these birds, which inexplicably is still considered a delicacy by some people. I am a certified chef myself, but once I learned how foie gras was made I never touched it again. Where do we live? In the dark ages? 15 European countries have already banned force-feeding for foie gras in animal cruelty laws, and the European Union is considering a full ban on foie gras in these countries. Go Europe!
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