Farm Sanctuary Applauds Landmark Pew Commission Report Advising End to Cruel Confinement...

Farm Sanctuary Applauds Landmark Pew Commission Report Advising End to Cruel Confinement of Animals on Factory Farms and Force-Feeding of Birds to Produce Foie Gras

Commissioners Cite California Ballot Initiative as "Public Policy
Improvement"
WASHINGTON D.C.--(Business Wire)--
Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal protection
organization, this week applauded the Pew Commission on Industrial
Farm Animal Production in its recommendations to change the way
animals are raised for food in the United States. The report
reinforces the efforts of many of Farm Sanctuary's long-standing
campaigns, namely its anti-confinement campaign that addresses
gestation crates for breeding pigs, veal crates for calves and battery
cages for egg-laying hens, as well as the organization's No Foie Gras
campaign, which works to end the force-feeding of birds to produce
foie gras.

Commissioners cited risks to public health, the environment and
concerns about animal welfare in the report, and lauded the current
California ballot initiative to end the use of gestation crates, veal
crates and battery cages in the state - the Prevention of Farm Animal
Cruelty Act - backed by Farm Sanctuary and the Humane Society of the
United States.

"The release of the Pew Commission report is a landmark event,"
said Julie Janovsky, director of campaigns for Farm Sanctuary. "At
long last there was a great degree of deliberation and independent
examination of the systematic confinement, mutilation and force
feeding of farm animals, and recognition that policy must be shaped
not simply by the production value of the animal, but rather the
ethics of how we treat these animals."

Among many findings, the commission concluded that, "Intensive
confinement...often so severely restricts movement and natural
behaviors, such as the ability to walk or lie on natural materials,
having enough floor space to move with some freedom, and rooting for
pigs, that it increases the likelihood that the animals suffer severe
distress."

In addition to ending the use of confinement systems like
gestation crates, battery cages and veal crates, the commissioners
also recommended banning the practices of force-feeding birds to
produce foie gras, tail docking dairy cattle and forced molting egg
laying hens - all practices that Farm Sanctuary has worked to end for
more than 20 years. The report also addressed the significant amount
of research funded by the agricultural industry and recommended
disclosure of funding sources for peer-reviewed published research, as
well as including ethics as a "key component of research into the
humaneness of a particular practice."

More information on the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act in
California can be found at www.humanecalifornia.org. Information on
Farm Sanctuary's No Foie Gras campaign can be found at
www.nofoiegras.org.

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.

Farm Sanctuary
Tricia Barry, 607-583-2225 ext. 233
tricia@farmsanctuary.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008