The New Jersey Supreme Court has upheld several regulations established by the state agriculture department that had been criticized as inhumane by a coalition of animal rights groups.
The measures included confining pregnant pigs to slim crates, shearing off the beaks of chicks, castrating animals without anesthesia and stressing chickens to produce extra eggs.
The court did, however, find one routine practice objectionable — so-called "tail docking" of cattle to remove a lower portion of the tail. The court also found the department needs to do more work to evaluate and define what routine husbandry practices are if they want to keep relying on it.
"Because we find in those regulations both unworkable standards and an unacceptable delegation of authority to an ill-defined category of presumed experts, we conclude that the Department failed, in part, to carry out its mandate. We therefore conclude that some, but not all, of the regulations are invalid," wrote Justice Helen Hoens for a unanimous court.
by Kate Coscarelli
The Star-Ledger, July 30, 2008
Source: USAHA News Alert, July 31, 2008