News
Food and Agriculture Committee Delivers Dairy Cattle Bill
February 19, 2009, 1:25PM MT
By Carrie Jones
Senator Strives For “Happy Cows” with Tail Docking Legislation
Senator Strives For “Happy Cows” with Tail Docking Legislation
As Chairman of the Food & Agriculture Committee, Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez (D-Shafter) is already living up to his promise to keep animal welfare at the forefront of the reformed Committee’s agenda with the introduction of his new anti-cruelty bill. Florez took time out from tense, round-the-clock budget negotiations to present his legislation to two hundred citizen lobbyists at Humane Lobby Day at the State Capitol on February 12. The Tail Docking Bill (SB 135) would prohibit an unnecessary procedure in the dairy industry known as “docking”, in which the solid part of a cow’s tail is shortened without the use of anesthesia or veterinary supervision.
The Tail Docking Bill, which would amend an existing animal abuse law to protect horses, seeks to criminalize such a procedure when practiced on dairy cattle as well. According to a 2005-06 survey, 82.3% of the 113 dairy facilities reported that they docked their herds. Despite its prevalence in the dairy industry, the American Veterinary Medical Association has opposed tail docking as there is no scientific data to support claims that docking improves animal hygiene and milk quality. Animal welfare advocates maintain that the crude mutilation of the cow’s tail contributes to distress, long-term pain and constant insect attacks. Opponents of tail docking offer that routine trimming of the long hairs of the tail would provide an effective and humane alternative. To read more about tail docking, click here.
The momentous passage of Prop 2 in 2008 was a wake-up call to state legislators that the public is in favor of regulating the factory farm industry to promote animal welfare. But the notion of increased regulation is often controversial given that “Big Agribusiness” has a powerful stronghold in California, the fifth largest food supplier to the world. The reformation of the Food and Agriculture Committee this year, however, marks a departure from past politics. As the head of the Committee, Senator Florez intends to balance the influence of the agriculture industry in the Senate with the concerns of consumers and emphasize oversight of the Department of Food and Agriculture. The appointment of the Senator is a beacon of hope to those concerned with animal welfare because the Food and Agriculture Committee is no longer held sway by rural conservatives who strongly oppose such regulation.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Write your legislators and urge them to support SB 135. You can find your legislators here.
Posted by Carrie Jones, Best Friends Network Volunteer
Photo courtesy of Photos8.com
**Best Friends Animal Society has not taken a position of support or opposition to this piece of legislation. For more information on how animal legislation is reported on the Best Friends Network, click here.