HSUS in N.C.

Bill stirs battle – over dogs, or meat?
Humane Society says effort is to protect puppies, but meat industry fears push to change eating habits.
By Mark Johnson mjohnson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Saturday, Apr. 25, 2009

RALEIGH North Carolina's meat industries are battling a bill the Humane Society of the United States and its vegan president say is meant to protect puppies, warning instead that it is the first step toward ending meat eating as we know it.

The Humane Society has made North Carolina a top priority in the fight for tougher animal welfare laws, for the first time deploying a lobbyist to work a full session of the state legislature.
Agribusiness groups predict a repeat of the tighter farm animal laws that California approved last year in a Humane Society-backed voter referendum. That measure included a requirement that egg-laying hens live in an area big enough for them to extend their wings, a mandate that opponents said was so cost prohibitive it would drive egg producers out of business.

“The public is very unaware that the Humane Society of the United States has a very direct agenda to eliminate the use of animals for food,” said Kay Johnson, executive vice president of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, a livestock industry-supported group based in Washington. “Nobody would have steak, hamburger, eggs – everyone would have a vegan diet.” Read More

HSUS is working in North Carolina to bring the now famous “Prop 2” regulations there. The question to be asked here is whether or not it is in the best interests of the livestock to pass these regulations. But it never seems that HSUS is concerned about that, they just want to make it more difficult for livestock producers to remain in business. The comfort of the livestock is our chief concern as producers since we depend on them for our livelihood. And it’s from that concern that we have developed the production methods we have today.