Help Californians Stop Animal Cruelty

This is a cause near and dear to my heart. You wouldn't believe how some farm animals are treated - forced to live in small cages their whole lives, abused and mistreated. Not to mention, factory farms who carry out practices like these put us all at risk, fostering the spread of diseases that can affect people. Californians are trying to do something about it, and I hope other states will follow suit.

Proposition 2 aims to end three specific types of cruelty:

1. Veal Cages: Calves are taken from their mothers when they are just hours or days old and tethered by their necks in crates too narrow for them to turn around or even lie down comfortably. Virtually immobilized and prevented from engaging in natural behavior, they suffer immensely.


2. Gestation Crages: During nearly their entire four-month pregnancies, female pigs used for breeding are confined in barren gestation crates – individual, metal stalls only two-feet wide. The crates are so small that the animals cannot even turn around. Barely able to move, these highly intelligent and social animals suffer terribly and develop crippling joint disorders and lameness.


3. Battery Cages: Nationwide, hundreds of millions of egg‐laying hens are confined in tiny, barren, battery cages so small that the birds can’t spread their wings, nest, dust-bathe, perch, or even walk more than a few painful steps. Each caged hen has less space than a sheet of letter‐sized paper on which to live for more than a year before she is killed.

The proposition is endorsed by more than 100 animal protection charities including many California humane societies and SPCAs in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and beyond; and the State Humane Association of California. Leaders like The Humane Society of the United States, Farm Sanctuary, Best Friends Animal Society, and the California Veterinary Medical Association recommend voting YES! on Prop 2.

Similar laws have already been passed in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Oregon, and if this measure is passed in California, hopefully similar laws will become even more widespread.

California residents will have to get out and vote, but the rest of us can help too. Californians for Humane Farms is trying to raise $200,000 to get their advertisement about proposition 2 on television so that more voters will be educated when it comes time to vote. It sounds like a lot of money, but every little bit helps. You can watch the ad and make donations here. Or just send a link to your friends and family.