New Jersey Residents:
Take Action to Help Mother Pigs and Baby Cows
The New Jersey state legislature is currently considering legislation to ban certain cruel forms of confinement in the pork and veal industries. The bill (A.1970) would ban cruel gestation and veal crates in the state and allow mother pigs and baby cows enough space to turn around freely, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs. These most basic welfare requirements are currently not required by state law. By taking action today, you can help change that.
MOTHER PIGS CRUELLY CONFINED
Most mother pigs used by the pork industry are confined to gestation crates, metal cages so small the pigs are nearly immobilized. They can’t even turn around or take more than a step forward or backward. Because of the lack of movement, their muscles and bones deteriorate. These intelligent animals are denied any mental stimulation. Many become neurotic and engage in repetitive coping behaviors, such as constantly biting the metal bars in front of them.
CALVES DESERVE BETTER
Veal crates immobilize baby calves in similar ways. Within days or even hours of birth, calves raised for veal in these confinement systems are taken away from their mothers and locked in cages so tiny they can’t turn around and can barely move.
NEW JERSEY MUST DO BETTER
Perpetual confinement in gestation crates is so cruel that ten U.S. states, Canada, and the European Union have already outlawed this abuse. On the corporate side, Smithfield Foods (the nation’s largest pig producer) is reducing its use of gestation crates. And brands such as Burger King, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr., Cracker Barrel, Tim Hortons, Sonic, Kroger, Kraft Foods, and Safeway, among others, are prohibiting the use of gestation crates in their supply chains.
LEARN MORE
If you’d like to learn more about why gestation crates and veal crates are so problematic and must be outlawed, check out the official website of The Coalition to Ban the Crates.
Despite state anti-cruelty laws, mother pigs and baby calves in the pork and veal industries are confined for nearly their entire lives in spaces so small they cannot even turn around. That is why we need specific legislation like A.1970 to make these horrible practices illegal in New Jersey once and for all.
Sarah Hanneken
Legal Advocacy Counsel, Animal Equality
