Beyond Rivalry

Yesterday, both animal-protection ballot questions brought to U.S. voters passed, in California and Massachusetts:

California's Prop 2 won big yesterday, with an estimated 63% of the vote. When it goes into effect in 2015 -- giving factory farms time to change  their practices -- it will "halt the inhumane confinement of animals on factory farms," ending "the practice of confining certain animals raised for food in crates and cages so small the animals can barely move. Prop 2 requires that factory farms provide enough space for animals to stand up, turn around and extend their limbs. It applies to breeding pigs, egg laying hens and veal calves." (You can read it all here)  Similar though narrower measures passed in 2002 in Florida, when voters acted to phase out two-foot by seven-foot metal gestation crates that confine breeding pigs; and in 2006 in Arizona, when voters banned both gestation crates and crates used to confine veal calves. More at HSUS.

About 56% of Massachussetts voters approved Question 3 yesterday, which will "phase out the inhumane practice of greyhound racing by 2010." The Humane Society of the U.S. reports that "since 2002, there have been 841 reported injuries at the two Massachusetts tracks, and 80 percent of those injuries were broken legs." They also note that "in recent years, the total amount gambled at the only two greyhound race tracks in Massachusetts declined by 65 percent and 37 percent." More here.