Farm Sanctuary expressed disappointment with the Feb. 16, 2007, ruling of the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division (Docket No. A-6319-03T1) which upheld standards developed by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) that allow intolerably cruel practices to be considered “humane.”

Humane organizations, veterinarians, family farmers, and others challenged practices that the NJDA calls “humane.” The court agreed there was “support in the literature and in the veterinary community” that practices allowed by NJDA were inhumane, but it nonetheless deferred to NJDA.

“The department of agriculture is charged with promoting agribusiness interests, which often run counter to preventing animal cruelty,” said Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary. “The department defined ‘humane’ as ‘marked by compassion, sympathy and consideration for the welfare of animals,’ but then produced standards that fly in the face of that definition and allow intolerable animal abuse.”

The following are among the practices NJDA standards allow:

• Force-feeding ducks and geese by jamming a pipe down their throats. This causes fatal liver disease as the organ expands up to 10 times its normal size to produce foie gras (French for “fatty liver”)

• Confining pigs and calves in crates barely larger than their bodies, which prevents the animals from walking, turning around or engaging in basic natural behaviors, and causes both physical and psychological disorders

• Transporting emaciated and “downed” animals (those too sick to stand) to slaughter to be used for human food

“The court has an obligation to uphold the law and humane societal values, and it has failed miserably in this matter,” Baur said.