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In a town hall meeting, a NJ resident asked Governor Chris Christie to reconsider his veto of a bill that would have banned gestation crates, the small cages in which female pigs are confined on factory farms. In response, he said that the pig farmers made a more persuasive argument than “animal cruelty activists.” In response to the veto, lifestyle maven Martha Stewart sent a letter to NJ lawmakers asking them to override it and added, “These animals have committed no crime, yet they’re treated worse than even the most violent criminals would be treated.”

NJ Governor Chris Christie

Chris Christie, who is accused of creating traffic jams in Fort Lee NJ to punish the local Mayor, was once considered the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race. His decision to veto the gestation crate bill, which was passed by the NJ state legislature, was clearly political — he didn’t want to alienate Iowa, a pork producing state. Several states have already banned gestation crates and other forms of cruel confinement due in part to undercover footage taken by Mercy For Animals and other animal rights groups. To find out how you can help, please visit F.A.R.M. (Farm Animal Rights Movement).

In January 2015, egg farmers in California will be required to provide 116 square inches per hen, compared to 67 square inches, which is the industry standard. In response to California’s decision to require out-of-state egg suppliers to provide their hens with the same space, the Missouri attorney general has filed a lawsuit to block the new rules, and several other states might do the same. According to the NY Times, “The beef and pork lobbies are also lining up against the California rules in an effort to prevent any new restrictions on raising livestock.”

The “colony cages” shown in this NYT photo are 49 square
inches bigger than battery cages

The first sentence in this NY Times article is alarming: “Hens in California are living the good life. Many can now lay their eggs in oversize enclosures roomy enough to stand up, lie down — even extend their wings fully without touching another bird.” Does the NY Times really think that being permanently imprisoned in slightly larger cages inside a shed with no natural light and no access to the earth constitutes “a good life?” Putting a positive spin on conditions that are merely “less horrible” gives consumers license to eat eggs from hens who have horrible lives. According to the NY Times, “90 percent of the nation’s roughly 280 million laying hens are still in battery cages about as big as a filing-cabinet drawer.” Please share this undercover footage of battery cages taken by Mercy For Animals.

Today, Idaho’s governor signed an “ag gag” bill outlawing the taking of photos and video in factory farms. Thanks to the elected officials who are beholden to the dairy lobby, whistleblowers are now criminals. This undercover video from Mercy For Animals, taken before the bill became law, shows exactly what the dairy industry and all agribusinesses are trying to hide.

Factory farms are concentration camps for animals, and agribusinesses will move mountains to prevent the public from seeing what happens inside. They know from experience that the public opposes an industry in which baby animals are kidnapped from their mothers, confined in cages, mutilated and stripped of the ability to do anything that comes naturally to them before being rounded up and slaughtered. The undercover investigators, who wear hidden cameras to document these abuses, risk their safety, financial security and freedom to expose the public to factory farming. Please help make the most of their heroic work by sharing their videos with your networks.