Media
Published News Stories

Animal rights advocates call livestock rules inadequate

By SHEILA HOTCHKIN
Associated Press Writer

July 3, 2003, 5:30 PM EDT

TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey's proposed standards for humane treatment of livestock have farmers' support, but animal rights advocates say they do not go far enough.

The state Department of Agriculture will accept public comments through Friday. After thousands of letters and e-mails are reviewed, a decision will be made on whether changes are needed.

The rules, drafted by the department and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, are intended to set a minimum standard for how farm animals can be treated, department spokeswoman Hope Gruzlovic said.

"They're designed to enable the enforcement agencies to quickly and accurately identify cases of animal cruelty so they can be corrected," Gruzlovic said.

But the animal rights group Farm Sanctuary filed more than 100 pages of public comments critical of the standards, which president Gene Bauston said "actually codify inhumane farming practices."

"What's interesting is those kinds of cruel systems do not currently exist in New Jersey," Bauston said. "So the department seems interested in opening the door to the worst farming has to offer."

New Jersey agricultural officials and Farm Sanctuary both say no other state has comprehensive humane farming standards. Most states have only breed-specific standards or animal cruelty statutes.

Animal rights advocates had high hopes that New Jersey, a largely urban state with few industrial livestock farms, would set high standards.

The rules, as they are written now, allow practices such as chaining veal calves in crates for their entire lives or keeping pigs in enclosures too narrow for them to turn around, Bauston said.

"New Jersey has an opportunity to set a truly humane standard, to be a leader in this area," Bauston said. "And we hope it does so."

The New Jersey Farm Bureau, which represents farmers, supports the standards as they are. Executive Director Peter Furey said animal rights groups want to turn the idea "into something that it wasn't meant to be."

"We think this is pretty matter-of-fact stuff," Furey said. "The farming industry is not concerned that these standards represent a departure from normal farming standards."

The Legislature ordered the standards in 1996 at the request of farmers, who wanted a clear definition of humane treatment. Farmers felt that some counties were unnecessarily issuing animal cruelty citations.

"They were, in an ad hoc way, developing their own standards about humane treatment of farm animals," Furey said.

According to the Agriculture Department, New Jersey has roughly 2,700 livestock farms. That includes 46,000 cattle and calves; 15,000 hogs and pigs; 13,000 sheep and lambs; more than 2 million chicken, turkeys and ducks; and goats, rabbits, llamas and alpacas.

Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press