Ohio Anti-Cruelty Measure

This past week, Ohioans for Humane Farms submitted a petition in support of placing an anti-cruelty measure on the statewide ballot in November. Voting residents in 48 counties backed the measure, which would require the newly formed Ohio Livestock Care Standards Board to enforce a number of minimum standards on farm-animal issues, including cage confinement, the treatment of “downer cows,” and humane methods of euthanasia. The group hopes to gather more than 600,000 signatures from voters once the petition receives approval from the Secretary of the State. Ohio would join a small number of states with similar cruelty-prevention laws, including Michigan, Arizona, California, Oregon, Colorado, Florida, and Maine.