Arizona / West

Petition drive would enlarge small pens of farm animals

PHOENIX - A coalition of animal-rights groups wants to make it a crime to keep calves or pregnant pigs in pens so small that they can't turn around. The group, organized as Arizonans for Humane Farms, has started a petition drive to require that these animals be able to lie down and fully extend their limbs. It needs 122,612 valid signatures by July 6 to put the measure before voters at next year's general election. If approved, the measure would give existing farms until 2013 to bring their practices into compliance. Cheryl Naumann, president and chief executive officer of the Arizona Humane Society, said Wednesday the goal of the initiative is not to interfere with legitimate farming or even to stop the slaughter of animals for food. But she said even animals raised to become dinner should not be made to suffer. The move will get a fight from the Arizona Cattlemen's Association. Bas Aja, the group's lobbyist, called it "purely a political stunt." Naumann, however, said the proposal should be seen as supportive of family farms. She said most small operations treat their animals humanely. What is happening, Naumann said, is large-scale operations, which are less sensitive to animal rights, "end up putting the small rural farmer out of business." But Aja said that position is based on the myth there really are small family farms in Arizona. "You can't make a living on 50 cows or 50 goats or 50 sheep," he said. Naumann said coalition members, including the Humane Society of the United States, the Animal Defense League of Arizona and Farm Sanctuary, believe state protections for farm animals are needed. "There is nothing quite as horrifying as the amount of suffering that takes place every day," she said. Aja said these groups do not understanding farming. "They are seeking to … put in the public's eye that an animal's sensitivities are equal to a human's sensitivities," he said.