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Humane treatment of farm animals act

Passage of Prop. 204 would require that pigs and veal calves raised on Arizona farms be housed in pens large enough for them to turn around. One large Arizona hog operation uses gestation crates, which confines pregnant sows in stalls so narrow they can't turn around. No Arizona farms use veal crates. The proposition has a six-year phase-in and would apply to new operations in the state.

Voting for Prop. 204 is the humane thing to do. Gestation lasts about four months and sows on large farms are bred continually, until they produce four or five litters. Sows spend months in tiny pens before they are sent for processing. The proposition would not affect the pens used to protect piglets from being crushed after birth, nor would it apply to pigs or calves being shown in rodeo exhibitions, state or county fairs or similar exhibitions.

The proposition offers some humane protections to animals that will ultimately be processed for food. The proposition does not mean the end of pork production in Arizona, and it would be phased in over six years, which provides plenty of time for compliance. Gestation crates are not a requirement for pig production, as many farms in Arizona and across the country are successful without confining their pigs in quarters so tight they can't stretch out their limbs.

Arizona must take this important step to protect farm animals and set the bar higher for humane treatment, before more hog producers do business in our state. Arizona's identity is tied to our agricultural roots, and we should protect that heritage by requiring that farm animals, in this case pigs and calves, be treated humanely.

Pigs can produce piglets while existing in one of these small crates. But that isn't proof that severe confinement is the best way to raise animals for meat. Prop. 204 has a wide base of support from animal welfare groups, and Arizona farmers and veterinarians.

Humans have control of every facet of these animals' lives, and their deaths. We have a duty to respect that they are living creatures and to treat them humanely. Passage of Prop. 204 will help do that.