SUPPORT PROPOSITION 2 TO REDUCE POLLUTION FROM CHICKEN FACTORIES

By Paul Mason, Deputy Director, Sierra Club California

Sierra Club supports Proposition 2, the Standards for Confining Animals initiative, which was formerly known as the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act. This Humane Society-backed initiative would set minimum standards for the way California treats its farm-raised animals.

Essentially, farm animals would be able to stand up, turn around and fully extend their limbs. This will most benefit California’s approximately 19 million egg-laying chickens, which are packed into tiny ‘battery cages’ and are unable to extend their wings.

California’s enormous chicken factories have serious air and water pollution impacts, in part due to the inhumane density of the animals.  Prop 2 would reduce the density of the animals, and therefore the intensity of the air and water pollution.

Many family farmers who raise animals humanely support Prop 2, because the cruel (but profitable) practices of the large factory farms make it difficult for small farms to compete financially.  Sierra Club supports family farming, and this initiative helps level the playing field by requiring big agri-business interests to apply some basic standards to their treatment of animals.