Michigan on Offensive Against Farmed-Animal Reform

Rather than be forced into treating farmed animals more humanely, it seems that farm bureaus have been busy drafting legislation in at least two states.

I wrote about Ohio's plan yesterday. Now legislators in Michigan have introduced a package of bills related to the care of farmed animals.

The plan will:

Establish that the Department of Agriculture and the Agriculture Commission is the sole authority in the regulation of livestock health and welfare.

Implement science-based standards for animal care that farmers must implement by 2020.

Create an Animal Care Advisory Council that will make recommendations for changes to existing standards.

Create a third-party auditing system to oversee the program.

On the face of it, the proposal seems logical. However, we've seen from numerous undercover videos that left on their own, the animal "agriculture" industry puts profits ahead of alleviating the suffering of animals.

I don't know if The Humane Society of the United States had been planning to target Michigan for farmed-animal reform. But I'm sure the success of California's Prop 2 and The HSUS's interest in reform in Ohio are what prompted the creation of this legislation.

It's a feel-good proposal that likely won't help animals. In fact, it has the support of the major animal exploiters in Michigan's farmed-animal industry:

Michigan Allied Poultry Industries, Michigan Cattlemen's Association, Michigan Equine Partnership, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Michigan Pork Producers Association, Michigan Sheep Breeders Association, as well as Michigan Farm Bureau, Michigan Agri-business Association, GreenStone Farm Credit Services, Michigan Corn Growers Association, Michigan Soybean Association, the Michigan Veterinary Medical Association and Dairy Farmers of America.

(Photo courtesy of enceladusj's Flicker account.)