Letters Urgently Needed to New Jersey Department of Agriculture

November 4, 2005 - Humane Standards Lawsuit - Press Release - Coalition Asks Court to Overturn New Jersey Farming Regulations

In legal papers filed on November 4, 2005, Farm Sanctuary joined with a broad coalition of humane organizations, farmers, veterinarians, and environmental and consumer groups, asking the court to overturn New Jersey farming regulations. The New Jersey Department of Agriculture's so-called "humane" regulations allow rampant animal cruelty on factory farms and have failed to establish humane standards for farm animals -even though it is required by the New Jersey legislature since 1996. In 1996, the New Jersey legislature decided that its cruelty code should cover farming practices and directed the NJDA to develop appropriate "standards for humane raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing, and sale of domestic livestock." By law, these regulations were supposed to protect farm animals from inhumane, industrialized farming practices.

However, eight years later in May 2004, the agency issued regulations that not only continue to allow industrialized farming practices, but also exempt compliant farming operations from liability under New Jersey animal cruelty laws. Additionally, the regulations exempt all "routine husbandry practices," essentially codifying the abusive practices the legislature sought to change, and thus allowing numerous inhumane practices to be sanctioned for animals raised for meat, eggs, and milk on industrialized factory farms.

The current lawsuit filed on November 4, 2005 goes beyond any previous legal action taken on behalf of farm animals in that it seeks a judicial declaration that most common factory farming practices are inhumane under New Jersey law. The new "humane" regulations permit numerous inhumane farming practices, including:

• Confining pregnant pigs for months at a time in gestation crates, individual metal stalls too small for them to turn around;
• Tethering and restrictively confining calves raised for veal until they are sent to slaughter; and
• Force-molting egg-laying hens by starving them up to 14 days.
  

You Can Help!

New Jersey is the only state in the Union that requires a code of humane standards for farm animals. Therefore, this state has an opportunity to improve the quality of life for the state's farm animals, while influencing humane measures nationwide. Please write polite letters to the officials listed below, asking them to not endorse cruelty to animals as a standard business practice by catering to the will of factory farming.

Dr. Nancy Halpern DVM, Director,
Division of Animal Health
New Jersey Department of Agriculture
John Fitch Plaza
PO Box 330
Trenton, NJ 08625-0330
Phone: 609-292-3965
Fax: 609-633-2550
nancy.halpern@ag.state.nj.us

Office of the Secretary
Charles Kuperus
John Fitch Plaza
PO Box 330
Trenton, NJ 08625-0330
Charles.Kuperus@ag.state.nj.us
Phone 609-292-3976
Fax 609-292-3978

NJ Dept. of Agriculture Criticized for Inhumane Standards

July 20, 2004 - Groups File Lawsuit Against NJ Dept. of Agriculture for Issuing Inhumane Farm Standards

Eagleton Institute Poll released in November 2003 shows widespread public opposition to "humane" standards proposed for NJDA.

Click here for newspaper articles.

Please click here to read the comments from Humane Organizations, Farmers, Veterinarians, and experts.

Please click here to read the "humane" standards proposed
by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.

Please click here to read the slight adjustments to the standards, as proposed by the NJDA in 2004.

For more information, please e-mail campaign@farmsanctuary.org or call 607-583-2225 ext. 251.