By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
MIAMI - Some pregnant pigs in Florida are headed to the slaughterhouse, an unintended consequence of a new state constitutional amendment meant to protect them.
Last month, voters made Florida the first state in the nation to ban the confinement of pregnant pigs in cages so narrow they can't turn around.
Only two farmers in the state, though, use the small cages and they've decided to get out of the hog business. And that means getting rid of their pigs.
"We can survive it (the constitutional amendment), I suppose, but we figured it would pass so we made preparations to drop out," Dade City farmer Henry Mathis, one of the hog producers, said Thursday.
Steve Basford, a farmer whose operation is in the Florida Panhandle, didn't return a call seeking comment.
Mathis, who also raises cattle and grows hay, is sending about 100 sows to Mississippi to be killed; another 100 hogs are headed to a slaughterhouse in Jacksonville, Fla.
Mathis said he has about 150 pregnant sows that he'll keep until they give birth. He expects to give the baby pigs to friends in Iowa.
Farmers say small cages keep pregnant pigs from fighting and injuring themselves, and make feeding the animals easier. The cages have been endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Animal rights activists, however, call the cages cruel and debilitating.
"If you had to be tortured and killed or just killed I think most of us would go for just killed," said Bruce Friedrich of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Mathis, who expects to have the last pigs off his land by next month, says the amendment is another thorn in the side of farmers.
"Farmers are slowly dying," Mathis said. "They're a rare breed anyway a rare breed among the rare breed."
___
MIAMI - Some pregnant pigs in Florida are headed to the slaughterhouse, an unintended consequence of a new state constitutional amendment meant to protect them.
Last month, voters made Florida the first state in the nation to ban the confinement of pregnant pigs in cages so narrow they can't turn around.
Only two farmers in the state, though, use the small cages and they've decided to get out of the hog business. And that means getting rid of their pigs.
"We can survive it (the constitutional amendment), I suppose, but we figured it would pass so we made preparations to drop out," Dade City farmer Henry Mathis, one of the hog producers, said Thursday.
Steve Basford, a farmer whose operation is in the Florida Panhandle, didn't return a call seeking comment.
Mathis, who also raises cattle and grows hay, is sending about 100 sows to Mississippi to be killed; another 100 hogs are headed to a slaughterhouse in Jacksonville, Fla.
Mathis said he has about 150 pregnant sows that he'll keep until they give birth. He expects to give the baby pigs to friends in Iowa.
Farmers say small cages keep pregnant pigs from fighting and injuring themselves, and make feeding the animals easier. The cages have been endorsed by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Animal rights activists, however, call the cages cruel and debilitating.
"If you had to be tortured and killed or just killed I think most of us would go for just killed," said Bruce Friedrich of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Mathis, who expects to have the last pigs off his land by next month, says the amendment is another thorn in the side of farmers.
"Farmers are slowly dying," Mathis said. "They're a rare breed anyway a rare breed among the rare breed."
___
