Idaho Farm Animals

On Monday, Idaho state Senators passed SB 1331, an animal-welfare bill that will establish a 10-member agricultural-animal advisory committee that will be comprised of animal-welfare advocates, lawmakers, and industry representatives. Republican Senator Tim Corder drafted the bill in anticipation of rapid expansion of the state’s poultry industry, which he expects to reach 10 million chickens within six months. Since California passed the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act in 2008, making confinement of hens in battery cages a criminal offense, Idaho legislators and economic developers are offering California poultry farmers incentives to relocate to Idaho. Corder hopes the creation of the committee will satisfy animal-advocates like the Humane Society of the United States, which ranked Idaho the second-worst state in terms of animal-protection in February 2010.