HSUS triples down

Last Tuesday, the Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) announced it had submitted the ballot initiative proposal “California Farm Animal Confinement Initiative” (#17-0026) to the California Attorney General. The proposal is a thematic continuation of HSUS-backed Proposition 2 (passed by ballot vote in 2008) and AB 1437 (passed by the state legislature in 2010). The former required that laying hens, veal calves, and gestating sows be housed in such a way as to allow them to turn around and fully extend their limbs without touching either other animals or the edges of their pens. This was a de facto ban of battery cages for laying hens, crates for veal calves, and gestation stalls or maternity pens for sows. The latter required that any eggs sold into California, regardless of where they were laid, must come from hens housed in enclosures in keeping with Prop 2 requirements. This new proposal would mimic the structure of AB 1437 by banning the sale of pork from sows housed in gestation stalls or maternity pens, or veal from calves housed in crates, regardless where it was produced. The language of the proposal additionally attempts to redefine close confinement housing as “confined in a cruel manner.”