Animal lovers everywhere rejoice! Our
yearlong ballot campaigns — to enact
the nation’s most comprehensive farmed animal protection law in Massachusetts
and to defeat a nefarious law pushed by factory farmers in Oklahoma — just paid off in a big way!
Massachusetts voters struck an enormous
victory for farmed animals this Election Day, overwhelmingly approving Question 3, a ballot
measure that will outlaw the most extreme forms of animal confinement throughout
the Bay State beginning in 2022. Question 3 received a whopping 78 percent of the vote, even after an
eccentric oil tycoon and a national pork trade group funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a
deceptive last-minute advertising blitz against it.
Once again, voters have made it abundantly
clear that farmed animals deserve basic legal protections from the worst forms
of abuse. Massachusetts is now the fifth state to outlaw or phase out battery
cages, the ninth state to outlaw veal crates, and the tenth state to outlaw
gestation crates. It is now also the second state, after California, to ban not
just the production but also the sale
of products made using these cruel confinement systems. Soon the roughly 6.75
million hens raised each year to provide Massachusetts with eggs will get a
significant upgrade in their living conditions.
As a leading member of the enormous coalition to pass
Question 3, Mercy For Animals mobilized our supporters to help gather 170,000 signatures to place the measure on the ballot, and then organized social media, phone-banking, door-knocking,
and letter-writing campaigns, putting in overtime to make sure voters knew why
to vote yes on Question 3. Today, we celebrate the fruits of that labor.
But that’s not all! We also beat factory
farmers on their home turf today when voters in Oklahoma rejected a vague and
misleading proposal to add a “right to farm amendment to the state
constitution. Pushed by factory farming interests, State Question 777 was designed
to thwart any new regulations of factory farms, including the kind of progress
we’re seeing in Massachusetts. Once again, a strong coalition of animal
advocates came together with environmentalists, local communities, and other
stakeholders to send the message that we need stronger, not weaker, rules for factory farms. In the end, 60 percent of Oklahomans voted against this dangerous measure.
We are so grateful to the thousands of
grassroots volunteers in Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and the entire country who
devoted their time, passion, and energy to winning these historic campaigns.
Together, we reached millions of people with a message of compassion for farmed
animals and brought thousands more into the dynamic world of animal advocacy.
Don’t be surprised if the coalitions — and
friendships — that have been forged along the
way lead to even bigger things down the road.
Pat yourselves on the back today. We made
history!