I recently formed a Long Island chapter of the League of Humane Voters along with a few other people who have already been very active and involved promoting candidates for this past election on Nov. 5th. I want more information about why the confinement bill A00424 has not been passed yet and is still in the agricultural committee.
Why can't humane, kind, considerate treatment of livestock exist side by side with agriculture which is now primarily factory farms? Sales have increased tremendously for food labeled humanely raised, it's good for business. Veal calves suffer horribly, taken immediately from their mothers and chained in tiny crates, unable to turn around. From his first day to his last, the life of a "milk-fed" veal calf is one of deprivation, stress, and disease. Veal factories take newborn male calves from their mothers and chain them in crates measuring only 22" wide and 58" long. This is where they will spend their entire lives.
Chained in tiny crates, veal calves cannot walk, turn around, stretch their legs, or lie down in a natural position. To obtain the light colored meat sold as "milk-fed" veal, calves are deliberately kept anemic.
Veal calves are denied all solid food. Veal calves suffer from chronic diarrhea. Veal calves are kept in darkness. Respiratory and intestinal diseases run rampant among veal calves. Veal calves are deprived of drinking water. In a futile attempt to quench their thirst, the calves gain weight quickly by drinking more of their drug-laced liquid feed. Serious leg injuries are caused by a complete lack of straw or other bedding. To prevent muscle development and speed weight gain, the calves are allowed absolutely no exercise. This is the terrible fate of hundreds of thousands of veal calves every year in the United States. The drugs in their liquid feed are passed onto the consumer.
Egg-laying hens spend their lives in cages no bigger than a piece of paper. They cannot spread their wings, resulting in a miserable existence. Their cages are stacked one on top of the other which makes their excrement drop onto the hen's cage below. Pregnant pigs are forced to live in a tiny gestation crate, unable to turn around. Do you know how uncomfortable pregnancy can be? Imagine this existence and then to give birth, only to be impregnated again and forced back over and over into the gestation crate. Why is the way we treat living creatures? Why do the animals have to suffer this way just to provide more and more factory farmed food from sickly animals? Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and the entire European Union have passed legislation to outlaw gestation crates. This link has information about humane legislation: http://www.farmsanctuary.org/get-involved/federal-legislation/state-legislation/
Thank you for taking the time and consideration this serious issue deserves.
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?bn=A0042
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/#.Ung_4nCsjLQ
