Ohio's Prop 2

HSUS to take Prop 2-like action to Ohio
April 6, 2009
By: Jennifer Fiala
For The VIN News Service

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is taking its campaign to eliminate tight housing quarters for farm animals on the road. Next stop: Ohio.

In February, HSUS leaders Wayne Pacelle and Paul Shapiro sat down with agriculture groups and the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association (OVMA) and announced plans to bring California’s costly and contentious Proposition 2 to the state that ranks second in egg production and ninth in swine, nationally. The group intends to put a citizen referendum to ban sow gestation stalls, veal crates and battery cages for layer hens on the November 2010 ballot.

But first, the activist group is reaching out in hopes that a deal can be negotiated, and it appears that veterinary medicine will play a major role in how that might take place.

For now, all sides say they’re willing to engage in a dialogue. Shapiro, senior director of HSUS’ Factory Farming Campaign, says that it’s in the agriculture industry’s best interest to compromise on imposing free-range housing requirements for livestock and hens. After all, when it comes to successfully taking its message to voters, HSUS is a financial and political powerhouse with an undefeated record. Since the group started its campaign to change agriculture’s controversial confinement standards, five states have imposed bans on housing systems deeply entrenched in U.S. agriculture. Read More

This situation isn’t unique to Ohio. HSUS is the bully on the block trying to force their ideas everywhere they go. It never has been about animal rights, it’s been about power and money. That is what they are most interested in. If they were really concerned about the livestock, they would recognize sound science and follow what the research says. So when HSUS shows up in your state, you basically have two choices. You can lay down or you can stand up. So far we haven’t been successful at the ballot box, but negotiating with them hasn’t gotten us anything either. So don’t give up, instead speak out and tell your story to anyone who will listen.

The Goals of HSUS

In case there was any doubt that Wayne Pacelle and the Humane Society of the United States hope to accomplish, it was put to rest on Wayne's blog. They want to abolish animal agriculture and force people to become vegans.

"The message of this fine work also resonates with the policy of The HSUS on these questions. We believe in the Three Rs—reducing the consumption of meat and other animal-based foods; refining the diet by eating products only from methods of production, transport, and slaughter that minimize pain and distress; and replacing meat and other animal-based foods in the diet with plant-based foods."

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