What has been the effect of the 2002 vote to prohibit gestation crates?
Shortly after the vote, two large pig farms in Florida chose to go out of business rather than provide pregnant pigs with enough room to turn around! The ban on gestation crates has worked to discourage the industrial farming of pigs in Florida, helping animals and protecting our environment. Unlike Florida, neighboring states Georgia and Alabama each have dozens of industrial pig farms (there are an estimated 250,000 pigs in factory farms in Georgia). The vote sent a powerful message to the pork industry, and motivated animal welfare advocates across the country. Since 2002, six states have followed Florida in banning gestation crates. The intensive confinement of pregnant pigs was banned in 2006 in Arizona after a ballot initiative effort. In 2007, the governor of Oregon signed a measure prohibiting gestation crates. In 2008, Colorado’s governor signed into state law a ban on gestation crates and Californians overwhelmingly passed a ballot initiative. In 2009, new laws were enacted i
