N.J. celebrities want ban on crates that confine pigs and calves. Christie vetoed it twice.

Updated May 10, 2021; Posted May 10, 2021

Seven years after similar efforts hit a wall under former Gov. Chris Christie, a group of 16 New Jersey celebrities are calling on state leaders to ban the farm practice of using gestation crates to confine pregnant pigs and veal crates to confine calves.

The celebrities — including Steven Van Zandt, Debbie Harry, Chelsea Handler, and Ethan Hawke — joined the Animal Legal Defense Fund in penning the open letter urging the state Legislature and Gov. Phil Murphy to enact a new bill that would criminalize the use of such crates in New Jersey, calling the practice “indefensible.”

“Gestation crates and veal crates are inherently cruel,” the celebrities wrote in the letter, according to a copy obtained by NJ Advance Media. “Both include severely restricting the animal’s movement, to the point of virtual immobilization, which leads to highly stressful conditions that induces physical and psychological illness — and great suffering.”

The celebrities are musician and actor Steven Van Zandt (a Middletown native), actress Maureen Van Zandt, actor Paul Wesley (of Marlboro), comedian Michael Ian Black (of Hillsborough), actress Taissa Farmiga (of Whitehouse Station), television host Daisy Fuentes (of Harrison), comedian Chelsea Handler (of Livingston), musician Debbie Harry (of Hawthorne), actor Ethan Hawke (of West Windsor), YouTube Grace Helbig (of Woodbury), television personality Alison Haislip (of Tewksbury), comedian Myq Kaplan (of Livingston), comedian Bill Maher (of River Vale), actress Cristin Milioti (of Cherry Hill), actress Christina Ricci (of Montclair), and musician Karen O (of Englewood).

Gestation crates are used to confine pigs and calves during pregnancy. Proponents say the crates prevent the animals from fighting each other. Opponents say they prevent the animals from turning around and fully extending their limbs.

“Coupled with increasing demand by consumers for increased compassion and transparency in how farmed animals are raised, now is the time for New Jersey to ban the crates,” Animal Legal Defense Fund Executive Director Stephen Wells said.

New Jersey’s bill (S3401), sponsored by Democrats, would make their use a crime and establish monetary fines. Ten other states, as well as Canada and the European Union, have banned gestation crates.

Christie, a Republican, vetoed measures banning pig gestation crates twice during his tenure as governor, first in 2013 and then in 2014.

Critics accused the then-governor of rejecting the bill because he was planning to run for president and didn’t want to upset pork producers in the key state of Iowa, where nearly one-third of the nation’s hogs are raised.

But it was also uncertain as to how much of an effect the measure would have had in New Jersey. The state is home to fewer than 10,000 pigs, and it’s unclear if any are kept in crates when pregnant.

Christie noted both the state Board of Agriculture and state Department fo Agriculture adopted humane standards in 1995 that cover the issue. He also accused sponsors of using the bill as a “political cudgel” against him.

“I will rely on our in-state experts rather than the partisan politicians who sponsor this bill,” Christie said at the time.

Both houses of the Democratic-controlled state Legislature would need to pass the new bill before Murphy, a Democrat, could decide whether to sign or veto it.

Former state Sen. Raymond Lesniak recently wrote an op-ed saying he had hope the measure would succeed this time now that Murphy is in charge.

“Help is on the way for the suffering pigs,” Lesniak, a Union County Democrat, wrote.

See the video here:

Approximately 10,000 hogs killed in fire at Pillen Family Farms – PLATTE VALLEY – NEWS CHANNEL NEBRASKA

Approximately 10,000 hogs killed in fire at Pillen Family Farms

A large fire near Albion has claimed the lives of approximately 10,000 hogs, according to the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department.

ALBION, Neb. — A large fire near Albion has claimed the lives of approximately 10,000 hogs, according to the Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department.

The department was training late in Tuesday night when, at 3:14 a.m., a call from Pillen Family Farm came in: one of their barns near Albion was ablaze. 

“The bells started ringing, and by the time we got west of town … it was just a glowing ball out there,” said Doug Koch, a volunteer firefighter. 

The 20-pound hogs were trapped under the collapsed, burning building; none salvageable.

“I kept thinking, you would have thought at least one pig would come walking out, that at least one would have survived […] It was the most destructive for losing livestock I’ve ever seen that large,” said Petersburg Fire Chief Neil Baumgartner. 

They eventually stopped it by tearing through the building around 11 a.m., but they were later called back onto the scene throughout Wednesday to fend off flames.   

“It is dry so a spark could go a long way… the guys are drinking coffee today,” Baumgartner said. 

The cause is still under investigation, but Baumgartner said there had been construction on-site previously.

While the whole building was a loss, no people were injured. 

Pillen Family Farm has not commented on the issue yet to NCN. 

No human injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The Animal Welfare Institute said Thursday morning that the Wednesday fire was the deadliest barn fire in Nebraska this year.

“While we are relieved no humans were injured, the extreme suffering and fear these animals must have endured as they were trapped in a burning building cannot be ignored,” said Allie Granger, farm animal policy associate for the Animal Welfare Institute. “Producers and the industry as a whole must take this problem seriously and start prioritizing fire prevention.”

The institute says nearly 5.3 million farm animals have perished in barn fires since 2013. Nebraska reported the most animal deaths from barn fires last year with approximately 400,000 dying in three fires.

Ukraine must deliver on animal welfare before getting more access to EU market

As trade negotiations will soon start to review the market access provisions included in the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), Eurogroup for Animals calls on the EU to oppose granting further market access to Ukrainian animal food products until the country implements EU-equivalent standards.

Read our position paper here.

The EU-Ukraine DCFTA granted significant trade preferences to Ukrainian animal-derived products when it entered into force in 2016, leading to the tripling of Ukraine’s exports of eggs and chicken meat and making the country the first source of EU imports for these products. The increase of Ukrainian chicken meat exports to the EU market largely profited Ukrainian giant poultry producer MHP, which is known for producing in intensive megafarms. The giant also forced the EU into extending trade preferences available for poultry under the DCFTA back in 2019, as a compromise to solve a dispute related to the agreement’s implementation. As the EU does not impose most of its animal welfare standards on imported food, the DCFTA has thus so far stimulated a very unsustainable trade, and thus production.

Ukraine is bound by the agreement to align its animal welfare standards with the EU’s. But the country only adopted a legislation aiming at approximating such standards in February 2021, five years after the DCFTA’s entry into force, and the implementation of this legislation is only foreseen as of 2026. The EU must therefore condition the DCFTA’s market access review to an effective alignment between Ukrainian and EU animal welfare standards. Such an approach would respond to citizens’ concerns regarding the surge in lower welfare imported food. This would also help avoiding that the DCFTA fosters further unsustainable farming in Ukraine and, as an additional positive side effect, it would contribute to improve the level playing field for EU producers. 

On a more positive note, Ukraine being a key player in the agrifood sector worldwide, achieving progress over there could have a positive impact on a huge number of animals. When Ukraine fulfils its DCFTA commitments, the country will be the first EU trade partner to apply EU-equivalent animal welfare standards. In addition, the wording of the DCFTA implies this alignment is dynamic, and once the EU will have revised its animal welfare standards, as expected with the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), Ukraine will have to move ahead too.  

At the time when the EU approach to animal welfare is subject to renewed debate, and in light of the objectives contained in the F2F strategy, it is important for the EU to demonstrate it can deliver progress for animals through trade policy. In the case of Ukraine, the review of the DCFTA  can be used to speed up the implementation of higher animal welfare in the country, and this is what Eurogroup for Animals is calling for. 

Read our position paper here.

Regards Mark

WAV Comment – Our recent post – P&G Sleigh Pig Unit in Scotland- Pigs ‘hammered to death’! – World Animals Voice

By now, you probably will have seen our latest investigation into an intensive pig farm called P&G Sleigh pig unit. A lot has happened since we conducted the investigation. Here’s an overview of what unfolded.

• Philip Sleigh, the owner of the farm, resigned as the Chairman of the Pigs Standard Setting Committee of Quality Meat Scotland (QMS), a public body to which he had been appointed as a Board Member by the Scottish Government.
• The farm was dropped by the QMS assurance scheme.
• Our investigation was published in an article in The Times, alongside a leader article titled ‘The Times view on animal welfare failings: Cruel Country’.
• Tesco and Lidl both dropped the farm.
• The Independent, the Scottish Daily Mail, and many more newspapers published articles covering the story, including the front page of Scotland’s most widely-read paper.

What we have achieved so far is huge. After our investigators captured footage of pigs being abused, we made sure people everywhere saw it by securing coverage in some of the UK’s leading newspapers. Scottish actress, Karen Gillan, also shared our investigation on Instagram to her 7.3m followers.

Not only has this led to people all over the country learning about the cruelty behind meat production in the UK, but it has been seen by government officials and company executives: decision-makers who are in a position to create change.

By uncovering ties between the farm and major UK supermarkets, Tesco and Lidl, we have sent another strong and clear message to retailers: if you do business with farms that abuse and exploit animals, you will be found out.

And we have also sent a powerful message to the meat industry itself. Philip Sleigh, who resigned as the Chairman of the Pigs Standard Setting Committee of QMS, is a well-known and influential figure in the UK meat industry. 

Rubbing shoulders with Government officials and accreditation reps, he was entrusted with a position of power, and yet his own farm breached the very standards that he helped set.

With this investigation, we have shown that it doesn’t matter how high up in the industry you are: we will hold you to account. 

While Philip Sleigh (pictured above) has left his position at QMS, the publicly-funded body still has a lot to answer for. It boasts of being proud of its standards, yet it took Animal Equality to uncover these serious breaches on its board member’s farm. How can QMS claim to take animal welfare seriously when its own poster-boy didn’t?

QMS is just one part of an industry which routinely misleads the public and profits from the abuse and exploitation of animals. We need the Government to take action.

ACTION

Please sign the petition at  Investigation: Suffering on Scottish Pig Farm | Animal Equality UK

Regards Mark