Last week, I visited my home state of Ohio to help launch a historic signature-gathering effort that aims to place a modest, yet meaningful, farm animal protection initiative on Ohio's November 2nd ballot. If approved by voters, the initiative will eliminate some of the cruelest factory farming practices in the state - reducing the suffering of over 27 million cows, pigs and chickens in Ohio each year.
Mercy For Animals' advocates joined forces with The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, and Ohioans For Humane Farms, traveling to Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus to rally Ohioans in support of the signature drive. Hundreds of Ohioans pledged to dive into the campaign by committing to gather 1,000 signatures each. The coalition must gather 403,000 valid signatures by June 30th to place the initiative on the 2010 ballot.
I spoke at each event about my firsthand knowledge of the plight of farm animals at factory farms across Ohio, showing images and sharing stories from my time investigating conditions at the four largest egg-laying facilities in the state. I shared images I documented inside Ohio mega farms where chickens were confined to the point that they could barely move, were denied veterinary care and mutilated without painkillers.
What is the ballot initiative?: Ohioans for Humane Farms is spearheading a new, citizen-backed ballot measure that would allow Ohio voters to provide guidance to the newly enacted Ohio Livestock Care Board and set certain minimum humane standards that will prevent cruel factory farming practices in Ohio, including:
Ohio has some of the weakest animal protection laws in the nation. MFA has worked on improving the lives of farm animals in Ohio for over a decade and this modest initiative is an important opportunity to reduce the suffering of millions of animals condemned to lives on factory farms.
If you are interested in helping to gather signatures, please visit Ohiohumane.com for more information.
Mercy For Animals' advocates joined forces with The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, and Ohioans For Humane Farms, traveling to Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus to rally Ohioans in support of the signature drive. Hundreds of Ohioans pledged to dive into the campaign by committing to gather 1,000 signatures each. The coalition must gather 403,000 valid signatures by June 30th to place the initiative on the 2010 ballot.I spoke at each event about my firsthand knowledge of the plight of farm animals at factory farms across Ohio, showing images and sharing stories from my time investigating conditions at the four largest egg-laying facilities in the state. I shared images I documented inside Ohio mega farms where chickens were confined to the point that they could barely move, were denied veterinary care and mutilated without painkillers.
What is the ballot initiative?: Ohioans for Humane Farms is spearheading a new, citizen-backed ballot measure that would allow Ohio voters to provide guidance to the newly enacted Ohio Livestock Care Board and set certain minimum humane standards that will prevent cruel factory farming practices in Ohio, including:
- Extreme confinement in tiny cages for months on end: Tens of thousands of veal calves, 170,000 breeding pigs and approximately 27 million egg-laying hens in Ohio are confined in cages and crates so restrictive the animals can barely move for virtually their whole lives. Many don't even have enough room to stretch their limbs or turn around.
- Allowing "downer cows" to enter the human food chain: Allowing sick and injured animals into the food supply threatens public health and food safety. Cows too sick or injured to stand or walk on their own to slaughter should be humanely euthanized, not inhumanely dragged or pushed while being shocked and beaten onto the kill floor to be used for human consumption.
- Inhumane methods of euthanasia for sick and injured animals: In Ohio, a factory farmer was videotaped killing sick pigs by hanging them execution-style from a tractor, leaving them to writhe in the air for minutes on end. He was acquitted of cruelty for the hangings, a verdict Ohio's agribusiness community hailed as a "huge victory," because Ohio has no law specifically requiring humane farm animal euthanasia methods.
Ohio has some of the weakest animal protection laws in the nation. MFA has worked on improving the lives of farm animals in Ohio for over a decade and this modest initiative is an important opportunity to reduce the suffering of millions of animals condemned to lives on factory farms.
If you are interested in helping to gather signatures, please visit Ohiohumane.com for more information.
