Before the Memorial
Day weekend, Wal-Mart announced new farm animal treatment guidelines
for its suppliers. Wal-Mart asked suppliers to make sure that food
animals have sufficient space, mentioning concerns over gestation crates
for pregnant sows, battery cages for hens and veal crates for calves.
In addition,
Wal-Mart expressed support for the “Five Freedoms” of animal
care—touchy, feely aspirations that are also adopted by animal rights
groups (most of which are considered enemies of animal agriculture).
They include: freedom from hunger and thirst; fear and distress;
discomfort; pain or disease; and freedom to express normal behavior.
Talk about playing on people’s emotions here. Can’t you just hear the sad music in the background?
Again, farmers and ranchers not only talk this talk, but they also walk this walk.
Hailed as “improved standards” in many news stories, the announcement was of course boasted by the Humane Society of the United States, arguably the biggest (size and dollar-wise) enemy of animal agriculture.
But another unsuspecting group came out praising the announcement—the National Pork Producers Council (the lobbying organization for pork producers). Targeted and picked on for years by HSUS, I was a little surprised to see this support. I see where they’re coming from: Pork producers already take care of animals humanely. But this is a departure from their normal reaction to decisions influenced by HSUS.
HSUS has claimed victory for every food company or restaurant the deep-pocketed organization bullied into eliminating the use of gestation crates (which are deemed humane by the American Veterinary Medical Association) for the protection of pregnant sows. A couple years ago, it seemed there was a daily announcement.
It was like dominos. And, speaking of Domino’s,
the pizza chain was the only major food or restaurant chain that didn’t
cave to animal rights extremists.
This didn’t happen in Washington, so why am I rambling on about it? Well, this brings me back to just a few short years ago when HSUS made a strong, but failed, attempt at federal legislation to mandate the minimum size of cages for egg-laying hens to be housed. This legislation was the first of its kind to dictate on-farm production practices.
Though this legislation was backed by a large group of egg farmers (many believe HSUS strong-armed egg producers into it), a lot of other animal agriculture groups fought hard against the rule, fearing it was a slippery slope to other sectors of animal agriculture. If HSUS can bully egg producers into it, they can likely do it to other animal agriculture industries.
On the bright side, the legislation flopped, and I think it’s safe to say that sort of on-farm federal legislation has been put to bed (for now, at least). Fingers crossed.
Again, farmers and ranchers not only talk this talk, but they also walk this walk.
Hailed as “improved standards” in many news stories, the announcement was of course boasted by the Humane Society of the United States, arguably the biggest (size and dollar-wise) enemy of animal agriculture.
But another unsuspecting group came out praising the announcement—the National Pork Producers Council (the lobbying organization for pork producers). Targeted and picked on for years by HSUS, I was a little surprised to see this support. I see where they’re coming from: Pork producers already take care of animals humanely. But this is a departure from their normal reaction to decisions influenced by HSUS.
HSUS has claimed victory for every food company or restaurant the deep-pocketed organization bullied into eliminating the use of gestation crates (which are deemed humane by the American Veterinary Medical Association) for the protection of pregnant sows. A couple years ago, it seemed there was a daily announcement.
This didn’t happen in Washington, so why am I rambling on about it? Well, this brings me back to just a few short years ago when HSUS made a strong, but failed, attempt at federal legislation to mandate the minimum size of cages for egg-laying hens to be housed. This legislation was the first of its kind to dictate on-farm production practices.
Though this legislation was backed by a large group of egg farmers (many believe HSUS strong-armed egg producers into it), a lot of other animal agriculture groups fought hard against the rule, fearing it was a slippery slope to other sectors of animal agriculture. If HSUS can bully egg producers into it, they can likely do it to other animal agriculture industries.
On the bright side, the legislation flopped, and I think it’s safe to say that sort of on-farm federal legislation has been put to bed (for now, at least). Fingers crossed.
No comments:
Post a Comment