Oregon House Committee Holds Hearing on Practice Described as One of Factory Farming’s Worst Abuses

By a two-to-one margin, state senate already approved measure prohibiting the use of cruel crates to confine breeding pigs.

Salem-News.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - The Oregon House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing at 8:00 AM tomorrow on a measure prohibiting one of the most abusive practices in factory farming: confining breeding pigs in metal gestation crates so small the animals can’t turn around for months on end.

The Oregon State Senate recently passed the bill, SB 694, by an overwhelming vote. The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal protection organization with more than 10 million supporters, urged the committee to approve the important measure.

“Gestation crates are among the most cruel and inhumane confinement systems used in today’s factory farms,” said Kelly Peterson, Oregon state director for The HSUS. “Especially at a time when food industry giants like Burger King, Wolfgang Puck, and Smithfield Foods are all moving away from gestation crates, Oregon should be no refuge for this abuse.”

State Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland) stated, “Gestation crates are truly cruel and inhumane. I encourage the committee to pass this important measure, which simply provides these highly intelligent and social creatures the ability to turn around and stretch their limbs.”