Gestation crates (almost) banned in New Jersey

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Animal welfare activists were cheering after measure S1921, which would see New Jersey farmers facing fines and jail time for confining pregnant sows, passed the state assembly with a vote of 60-5 and the state senate 29-4 in May.

But their victory was short-lived. In June, the bill was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie. Now, The Star-Ledger reports, a coalition of the state's foremost animal protection groups are banding together to fight the veto and The Humane Society of the United States will be launching a $150,000 television ad campaign in an attempt to get voters onside.

This is an awful lot of fuss for a state that, according to www.pork.org, had only 8,000 pigs in December 2010.

One state that does have a lot of pigs (around 20 million) and no similar legislation is Iowa. And as Sen. Raymond Lesniak, sponsor of the vetoed bill, points out in a Times of Trenton opinion piece, Iowa is also the first state to conduct a Republican presidential primary.

Buttering up big pork may be working. Howard Hill, president-elect of the National Pork Producers Council, thanked Christie in a statement, praising the veto as a victory for small, independent farmers. BP