Politics of Prop. 2

This November 4, California voters will choose whether to ban three of agribusiness’ most controversial confinement systems-veal crates for calves, gestation crates for pregnant pigs, and battery cages for egg-laying hens. If the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act wins more than 50 percent of the vote, it will set a new precedent for animal protection by improving the lives of more farmed animals than any voter initiative in US history, while making California the first state to outlaw battery cages.

Every year, factory farms in California confine nearly 20,000 breeding sows in two-foot-wide gestation crates that prevent them from even turning around during their four-month-long pregnancies. They also condemn approximately 19 million egg-laying hens for their entire lives to battery cages that provide less area for each chicken than an 8-1/2-by-11-inch sheet of paper.

“The vast majority of Californians-vegan, vegetarian, or meat- eater-agree that giving animals raised for food enough room to turn around and extend their limbs is a very modest request,” says Paul Shapiro, senior director of HSUS’ Factory Farming Campaign. “There’s sure to be a well-funded misinformation campaign from animal agribusiness, but voters are not going to be fooled, especially as they learn more about these abuses.”

Lee Hall, legal director for Friends of Animals questions whether husbandry campaigns truly cultivate respect for animals or merely reinforce their status as commodities. “Across the planet, animal agribusiness is on the rise,” Hall says. “If not from vegetarian activists, where can global society find a coherent message?”

Shapiro has no doubt that a yes vot on Prop. 2 is the right vote. “We know with certainty that billions of animals will be used for food production for some time to come, but we can reduce their suffering by banning the most intensive confinement practices.”