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Broad Coalition Petitions New Jersey Supreme Court for Appeal in Humane Standards Case

Group Says Appellate Division put a Rubberstamp on Cruelty

Trenton, NJ - April 20, 2007 - Today, a petition was filed with the Supreme Court to revisit a landmark case challenging the New Jersey Department of Agriculture's (NJDA) mandated "humane" standards for farm animals.

A broad coalition of humane organizations, farmers, veterinarians, environmental and consumer groups are calling on the court to decide if the New Jersey State Appellate Division NJDA has failed to uphold the law concerning humane standards for farm animals. The New Jersey legislature required the NJDA to adhere to humane standards in 1996. NJDA has instead sanctioned numerous inhumane practices used to raise animals for meat, eggs and milk on industrialized factory farms. Despite monumental public opposition, these cruel and unethical practices were ruled legal by the New Jersey Appellate Division in February 2007.

The Appeal will continue to seek a judicial declaration that many regulations that authorize cruel factory farming practices are illegal under New Jersey law. The Coalition’s continued fight goes beyond any previous legal action taken on behalf of farm animals in the United States.

The plaintiffs include Farm Sanctuary, the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, The Humane Society of the United States, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Welfare Institute, Animal Welfare Advocacy, Saving Our Resources Today, Center for Food Safety, the Organic Consumers Association, farmers and citizens.

The NJDA regulations permit numerous inhumane farming practices, including:

• Confining pregnant pigs for months at a time in gestation crates, individual metal enclosures too small for them to turn around;
• Tethering and restrictively confining calves raised for veal to prevent them from exercising, so their muscles can't develop and remain soft; and
• Mutilations without anesthesia, including castration, de-beaking, de-toeing and tail docking.

“To allow these confinement systems and mutilations constitutes a breach in understanding of the word ‘humane,’” said Gene Baur, president of Farm Sanctuary. “Public concern for the welfare of farm animals is on the rise, yet the one state required to create a humane code refuses to acknowledge the cruelty inherent in these systems. The code as it stands presents a ‘welcome mat’ for factory farming in New Jersey.”

In 1996, the New Jersey legislature directed the NJDA to develop appropriate "standards for humane raising, keeping, care, treatment, marketing, and sale of domestic livestock." By law, these regulations were supposed to protect farm animals from inhumane, industrialized farming practices.

In May 2004, the agency finally issued regulations that not only continue to allow industrialized farming practices, but provide broad exemptions for agribusiness. The regulations exempt "routine husbandry practices," essentially codifying the abusive practices the legislature sought to change.

The organizations are represented by the public interest law firms Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal, Washington, D.C., and Egert & Trakinski, Hackensack, N.J. More information about the New Jersey lawsuit can be found at www.njfarms.org.

About Farm Sanctuary
Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming. Additional information can be found at www.farmsanctuary.org or by calling 607-583-2225.