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WHEREAS, the Department, working with industry representatives, New Jersey Farm Bureau, veterinarians, Rutgers University, and the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, wrote and adopted N.J.A.C. 2:8, which became the first regulations of their kind in the country to address the humane care and keeping of domestic livestock; and
WHEREAS, the Department has adopted the regulation with amendments, as prescribed by the New Jersey Supreme Court on July 30, 2008, following a challenge by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, among others, in which the Standards were largely upheld; and
WHEREAS, concerns from stakeholders about the inconsistent application of animal cruelty statutes to the owners of livestock and poultry in New Jersey have not changed since the adoption of the statute, despite the development of rules to guide the investigation of complaints -- namely that state and county SPCAs enforce animal cruelty statutes based on factors other than science-based regulations.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that we, the delegates to the 99th State Agricultural Convention, assembled in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on February 5-6 , 2014, urge that New Jersey’s agricultural community, represented by the New Jersey Farm Bureau, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association, the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture and Department of Agriculture reconvene to evaluate the implementation of N.J.A.C. 2:8, Humane Treatment of Domestic Livestock.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we encourage the Legislature to adequately fund the operations required for implementation and defense of N.J.A.C. 2:8, Humane Treatment of Domestic Livestock.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the New Jersey State Attorney General to require that all law enforcement personnel authorized to respond to animal cruelty complaints comply with N.J.A.C. 2:8 and enforce those standards upheld by the Supreme Court, as well as ensuring that the notification requirements to the Department of Agriculture are also upheld.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we recognize the increased interest and concern within the state and country about livestock handling and welfare and therefore support the expansion of services provided by the Division of Animal Health in order to maintain pace with the significant increase in requests for field investigations of alleged violations.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the we urge the NJSPCA to avail itself of increased and more frequent training regarding the Humane Standards, which the Division of Animal Health has made a commitment to provide, in an effort to have SPCA enforcement more accurately reflect the provisions of the Standards.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we support appropriate funding levels and resources to provide science-based factual information to educate citizens of the state, especially the agricultural community, and properly comply with the Legislature’s mandate that the Department continually review and update standards to ensure the humane care of livestock and poultry.
