Michigan Bans Battery Cages and Crates
Yesterday was a momentous day for animals living on farms in Michigan, where Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a bill into law that phases out veal crates, battery cages, and gestation crates on farms across the state!
Michigan farmers have been given three years to phase out veal crates and 10 years to get rid of gestation crates and battery cages. This means that farmers will no longer be allowed to immobilize calves in crates that are so small that the animals can barely take a step in any direction. Pregnant pigs will no longer be forced to live in their own excrement in a space too small to turn around in, and hens will get a chance to stretch their wings.
The news comes just a day after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill making it illegal to dock cows’ tails in California, where gestation crates, veal crates, and battery cages were banned last year. Now that Michigan has become the seventh state to ban gestation crates, the fifth to ban veal crates, and the second to ban battery cages, we’re hoping that laws improving conditions for animals on factory farms will continue to take the nation by storm.
Of course, the best way to prevent animal suffering is to adopt a vegan diet, stat.
Written by Shawna Flavell
