Beyond the law6/2/2023 In terms of animals raised for food or food production, three separate areas of activity are in need of protection: the treatment of the animal while being reared, the transport of the animal to the slaughterhouse or stockyard, and the slaughter itself. Īlthough animals lack legal standing, they are protected in small part by both state and federal statutes. The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them. LEGAL PROTECTION FOR ANIMALS RAISED FOR FOOD OR FOOD PRODUCTION Although many people may have the impression that laws prevent domestic animals - the vast majority of which are animals raised for food or food production - from being treated in a cruel manner, the reality is that more such animals are now being abused than ever before in the history of the United States. The main purpose of this article is not remedial, but rather to present the realities of the current system. Part VI concludes with an outline for reform. The contrast is stark: the United States alters the law to allow cruel farming practices while Western European countries are banning cruel farming practices. Furthermore, even if present customary farming practices are not perceived as cruel, statutory exemptions create a regime whereby cruel farming practices can be developed without fear of sanction. Not only are many customary farming practices in this country cruel, but many Western European countries have recognized the cruelty in such practices and are attempting to remedy the situation. Part V offers evidence that the law in the United States fails to protect from cruel treatment animals raised for food or food production by comparison with legal developments in Western Europe. Part IV documents how the amendments to anticruely laws mentioned above place animals raised for food or food production beyond the law's reach in the majority of states. Part III briefly discusses "accepted," "common," "customary," or "normal" farming practices. It will also discuss the sole source of legal protection for such animals on the farm: state anticruelty statutes, which themselves offer questionable protection. Part II demonstrates how these animals receive absolutely no federal protection while on the farm and extremely limited federal protection during transport and slaughter. This article will examine both federal and state protection of animals raised for food or food production. Given that there is also no federal law applicable to the treatment of animals raised for food or food production while on the farm, such animals within these states now have no legal protection from institutionalized cruelty. Consequently, it was necessary to amend the anticruelty statutes to allow such practices to continue. Such amendments indicate that current methods of farming encompass practices that might have been considered illegal prior to the amendments. Seventeen states in the last ten years have amended their statutes to exempt "accepted," "common," "customary," or "normal" farming practices in the last year alone, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan and Wyoming joined this trend, moving the states that exempt such farming practices from the minority to the majority. Similarly, certain states' anticruelty statutes also exclude poultry, which represent an estimated ninety-five percent of the more than seven billion farm animals slaughtered annually. These statutes have given the farming community the power to define cruelty to animals in their care. Specifically, twenty-eight states have enacted laws that create a legal realm whereby certain acts, no matter how cruel, are outside the reach of anticruelty statutes as long as the acts are deemed "accepted," "common," "customary," or "normal" farming practices. states prohibit, at least in part, the application of their anticruelty statutes to farm animals. states have amended their anticruelty laws. In recent years, however, a large number of U.S. While such laws were originally intended to protect animals such as cows, sheep, and horses, they have generally evolved to cover all domestic animals, including dogs and cats. Since the early nineteenth century, Western society has enacted laws to protect animals from cruelty. This article describes the minimal state and federal laws relating to animals raised for food production, and outlines a path for reform.
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