Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Prop 2 A National Issue

State veal, livestock producers eye California proposition
Initiative designed to prevent cruelty
By Nathan Phelps nphelps@greenbaypressgazette.com

It's half a country away, but veal and other livestock producers in Wisconsin will watch what happens with a California ballot item Tuesday.

Voters in California will take up Proposition 2, a ballot initiative designed to "prohibit cruel confinement of farm animals in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs."

"Both proponents and opponents agree this measure is going to have national reverberations," said Paul Shapio, a spokesman with the Humane Society of the United States, which is backing the ballot initiative. "These ballot measures provide the most modest reforms on an industry that for so long … has been able to treat animals however it likes."

Those in the livestock ag sector say the wellbeing of their animals is a crucial part of their operation.

"When it comes right down to it, if (farmers) didn't have healthy and content animals, they wouldn't be in business," said Casey Langan, a spokesman with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. Read More

Today we will find out if California will vote their producers out of the state in favor of imported food. This article shows that this isn’t just a California problem, but rather HSUS is going to be taking this effort to a national level. They have a goal of abolishing animal agriculture and this is another step towards that effort.

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