WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Farm Sanctuary, the nation’s leading farm animal protection organization, supports a Florida bill, known as SB 1636, that would allow certain farm animals the basic freedom of movement. The bill, introduced by Sen. Michael S. Bennett (R-Bradenton), President Pro Tempore of the Senate, on March 3, would require that calves raised for veal and hens raised for eggs be given at least enough space to turn around, lie down, and fully extend their limbs. Currently, millions of animals in Florida are denied the ability to engage in this range of motion.
If passed, SB 1636 would make Florida the third state, joining California and Michigan, to have legal restrictions on the use of three of the factory farming industry’s cruelest confinement systems: veal crates for calves, battery cages for egg-laying hens, and gestation crates for breeding sows. Florida was the first state to ban gestation crates when voters approved an initiative in 2002. Since that time, four other states besides California and Michigan have enacted laws that outlaw at least one form of factory farm confinement, including Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Maine.
Gene Baur, President and Co-founder of Farm Sanctuary, says, “Florida’s new bill is an important step towards granting farm animals the consideration all animals deserve. Farm animals, just like cats and dogs, are sensitive, intelligent beings, and we have an ethical obligation to treat them with respect. But on today’s factory farms, animals are treated like unfeeling commodities and denied basic humane considerations. Legislation is necessary to prevent this inexcusable cruelty.”
Farm Sanctuary, which is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary as an organization, urged passage of the first laws in the U.S. to protect farm animals on factory farms and established two of the nation’s first shelters for rescued farm animals.
