Animal rights fight heads to voters
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Cincinnati Enquirer: Issue 2 sounds innocuous enough: It would amend Ohio's constitution to create a statewide board to develop standards for livestock care and safety. But opponents see something more nefarious: an attempt to stop animal rights groups from getting their own statewide ballot initiative that would be far more protective of animals. The question of how to care for cows and chickens is not something Ohioans usually vote on. But it's part of a national fight over animal rights.
In California, voters last year approved a proposition supported by the Humane Society allowing criminal charges against farmers for confining certain animals in a way that prevents them from turning around, standing up or lying down. Similar measures were approved by voters in Arizona and Florida. The issue - placed on the Nov. 3 ballot by a joint resolution of the state legislature - may keep groups such as the Humane Society of the United States from proposing a ballot issue that would increase regulation over the livestock industry, according to legislators. But animal rights groups think the statewide ballot issue doesn't go far enough to protect cows, chickens and other animals. They say those animals are harmed by Ohio's No. 1 industry, if housed in cramped, dirty or otherwise unsafe cages, pens or barns.
With Ohio voter approval Nov. 3, the joint resolution would create a 13-member standards board including farmers, veterinarians, consumer and humane society groups and scientists. Members would work to create standards for biosecurity on farms, animal disease prevention, food safety and cost controls. Issue 2 is backed by Republican and Democratic leaders of the Ohio House and Senate, plus Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat. The Ohio Farm Bureau and the state's other major agricultural groups are campaigning for its passage. The Farm Bureau argues that Issue 2 offers a far more comprehensive plan for livestock standards than the piecemeal approach pushed by out-of-state advocacy groups. The amendment doesn't dictate or suggest what the standards should be, but gives broad authority for oversight to the 13-member board.
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