Eight years ago today, Californians made history by voting YES on Prop 2, the most important farm animal protection state law in the nation. In four days, Massachusetts voters will go to the polls and face the decision of whether to continue that historic legacy by voting YES on Question 3 to ban the sale of products from caged animals. The agribusiness lobby is fighting hard, but animal advocates are of course waging our own crusade to get out the YES vote.
In other news for chickens this week, the biggest reforms ever announced for American broiler chickens (those raised for meat) came from two top foodservice companies: Compass Group and Aramark. Huffington Post proclaimed, “This May Be The Most Sweeping Set of Animal Protections Ever Announced,” while Politico headlined, “A McDonald’s moment for the broiler chicken industry?”
There’s been a lot of talk about border walls lately, but there’s one constituency which hates wall proposals that’s gotten less attention: animals. Considering that we’ve decimated more than half the planet’s free-living animals since 1970, it’s an important consideration. As part of the effort to end the war on wildlife, HSUS and friends are now challenging in court one state’s policy to start allowing recreational trapping of cougars. More to come!
Paul Shapiro
Vice President of Policy
The Humane Society of the United States
Follow at twitter.com/pshapiro
P.S. Video of the week: This is either one brave rat or one very kind cat.