ACTION ALERT! S. 1921 in New Jersey

Attention New Jersey Friends!

The New Jersey State Senate is going to soon be taking up bill S. 1921 that would effectively ban gestation crates and make it a criminal offense to do so in the state of New Jersey.  From the Statement on the bill:

 This bill establishes the animal cruelty offense of cruel confinement of a gestating sow as a disorderly persons offense.  The bill defines cruel confinement of a gestating sow as crating, confining, or tethering a gestating sow kept on the farm in a manner that prevents the gestating sow from being able to turn around freely (as defined in the bill), lie down, stand up, or fully extend its limbs (as also defined in the bill).

     The bill specifies that an owner or operator of a farm may commit this offense, personally and directly, or indirectly through directions or instructions to a contractor, consultant or employee of the owner or operator or the farm, but that a contractor, consultant, or employee following such directions or instructions would not be guilty of the offense.  In addition to any other penalties applicable pursuant to Title 2C of the New Jersey Statutes, the bill provides that a violator would be fined for each offense not less than $250 nor more than $1,000, or be imprisoned for a term of not more than six months, or both, and that each gestating sow that is cruelly confined would be a separate offense.

Today I am urging you to get in touch with your State Senator by either calling or emailing them, asking them to support this measure.  While I ultimately wish for the complete abolition of factory farms and animal agriculture, this is a step in the right direction.  Click here to locate your state senator and lets all be a voice for the voiceless!

Please feel free to use the following text in your email:

Dear Mr./Ms. (Insert last name here),

 

I am writing you today to ask for your support of Bill S. 1921 which would ban the use of gestation crates for pigs, making it a criminal act to keep a pig in close confinement that would prohibit the animal from extending its limbs and turning around freely except for the time shortly before giving birth. 

 

Modern breeding sows are treated like piglet-making machines. Living a continuous cycle of impregnation and birth, each sow has more than 20 piglets per year. After being impregnated, the sows are confined in gestation crates — small metal pens just two feet wide that prevent sows from turning around or even lying down comfortably. At the end of their four-month pregnancies, they are transferred to similarly cramped farrowing crates to give birth. With barely enough room to stand up and lie down and no straw or other type of bedding to speak of, many suffer from sores on their shoulders and knees.

 

Numerous research studies conducted over the last 25 years have pointed to physical and psychological maladies experienced by sows in confinement. The unnatural flooring and lack of exercise causes obesity and crippling leg disorders, while the deprived environment produces neurotic coping behaviors such as repetitive bar biting and sham chewing (chewing nothing).

 

Please stand with me and be a voice for the voiceless and support this measure.  Thank you so much for your consideration.

 

All the best,

 

Your Name

Your Address

 

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