To the editor:

New Jersey is seen as a leader in the ethical way we treat animals and prevent cruelty, with a few notable exceptions. We’ve long prohibited the ownership of certain exotic animals not suitable as “pets”’ and who – as we’ve seen in recent years from Connecticut to Ohio – pose a threat to human and community safety and often suffer or pay with their lives either from inadequate care or after attacks and escapes. We also disallow the shooting of pigeons as target practice in our cruelty codes, and rightly so for it is a callous waste of life and unsportsmanlike. We’ve also long prohibited the use of gas chambers as a method of euthanasia in New Jersey shelters and pounds. We have some of the strongest anti-cruelty laws in the country, even before the welcomed improvements brought forward in Patrick’s Law.

At Shelters and Pounds, there are regulations that set minimum care requirements for the animals housed therein. While these standards are due for revision improvements, even these minimums have laid a floor of care that municipal shelters and nonprofit entities must meet --criteria considered necessary to provide basic physical and psychological well-being of the animals. The rules apply to any animal that is “subject to rabies and other diseases of dogs;” essentially any mammal (rabies). Seasoned shelter managers can share cases that depict the variety of animals that come to our facilities in addition to the expected dogs, cats, birds and bunnies. In recent years at St. Hubert’s we’ve welcomed a roster from sugar gliders to ferrets to day-old sheep, pot-bellied pigs-- we could rattle off a veritable Noah’s Ark of critters.

Each and every one of these animals must – in their primary enclosures – be able to turn around freely and to stand, sit and lie down in a comfortable, normal position. It’s a basic minimum care standard called out specifically in NJ regulations, authorized under state statute.

If a pig comes into St. Hubert’s, she MUST and SHOULD be provided the ability to stand up, turn around and lie down in a comfortable, normal fashion. No question about it. At the shelter, both the compassion of the staff and the regulations ensure she’s provided the basic freedom necessary for her physical and psychological well-being.

Unfortunately, many in the pork industry deny pigs this basic freedom of movement for years on end. Reimpregnated year after year, each is stowed into a stall where she cannot turn around and can barely move at all. But, for the agriculture industry, it’s completely legal in New Jersey.

This behavior that is expressly prohibited in non-profit entities and would be treated as cruelty in a private pet home should be abolished in every setting. It is common sense and science supported that animals suffer in such extreme, barren confinement without regard for where it occurs.

Governor Christie has the opportunity to close this loophole in our laws for animals by signing S. 998, which would simply give mother pigs enough space to turn around, lie down, and stand up.

More than 80 percent of mother pigs used for breeding purposes in the U.S. are confined in “gestation crates” – small metal cages that restrict them from being able to turn around-- for nearly four years straight before they are slaughtered. They often show signs of neuroses by biting on the crate bars, and frequently develop infected pressure sores from lying on hard concrete slabs year-round. These animals are treated worse than the most heinous criminals in our society, yet they’ve committed no crime. Just like dogs and cats, pigs are incredibly smart, playful, and curious. That’s why at St. Hubert’s – one of New Jersey’s oldest and largest animal shelters – we advocate for the better treatment of farm animals. It’s not just St. Hubert’s that wants Governor Christie to sign S. 998 into law – nearly everyone does. A recent poll found that 93% percent of New Jersey voters support the bill, among them dozens of farmers, more than a hundred individual veterinarians, and the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association.

At St. Hubert’s we will continue to provide direct care to thousands of animals, rescue and respond to injured and orphaned wildlife, provide a wide array of community services from humane education to housing of animals for domestic violence victims. And as an animal welfare agency we will advocate for the humane treatment of all animals. We are very proud of New Jersey’s leadership on animal welfare issues and these areas of deficiency scar our humane standard.

Animals and New Jersey needs S.998 to be signed into law.

Heather J. Cammisa,

President & CEO of St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center and Certified Animal Welfare Administrator

Millburn