Watch Out.

The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has been up to no good for some time, sneaking around in the shadows of their lies and tearing our domestic food supply out from under our feet without anyone even noticing. To this date, they have targeted and successfully passed legislation in four states: Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and California. Production animal agriculture - the domestic source of our inexpensive, plentiful, safe food - in these states is now (or soon to be) a thing of the past, and the radical organization is plowing ahead with their plan to eliminate meat, milk, and eggs/poultry from the American diet.

HSUS is successful primarily because 98% of Americans are completely food illiterate; in other words, an overwhelming majority of people do not have the slightest idea what kind of a farm their food comes from or how it gets to the grocery store. This, combined with the Humane Society technique of using emotion to raise money to achieve goals creates an unfortunate situation for farmers because unknowing minds can be easily manipulated to despise food production.

When the Humane Society enters a state, they flood the media with photos and videos featuring isolated cases of disturbing animal mistreatment and make it seem like such treatment is the norm on farms. When consumers see said videos, the circumstances portrayed become reality on farms everywhere in the public's eye; i.e. dairy farming is tail docking and de-horning, hog production is gestation crates, poultry production is cramped cages, beef production is downer cows and e-coli. The public, naturally, repels against the food industry in response to the (biased and inaccurate) representation of agriculture, and just like that the HSUS has majority backing.

Once the public is on their side, HSUS promotes their desire to bring "humane treatment" to the poor animals on production farms in the state. Once again, one-sided arguments and narrow definitions come into play; HSUS simply defines humane treatment by animal housing, not herd health, herd mortality rates, herd nutrition management, etc, all of which are favorable to the animals and contradict the mistreatment HSUS is trying to portray. Wayne Pacelle, president of the HSUS, shows up in his three thousand dollar suit and tells people "See, all we want to do is give this chicken room to spread its wings, and this sow the ability to move around with her piglets," and the votes in their favor come pouring in.

The HSUS mission sounds harmless from the outside, but consider this: every kind of animal housing has developed from years and generations of studies on domestic animal morbidity and mortality rates, and the crates, tethers, and pens are the best way to minimize death rates. Believe it or not, laying hens are bloodthirsty and will gang up and kill each other if any blood is present during the egg laying process, hence small laying crates in which the bird is safe to eat, drink, and lay eggs; sows do not hesitate to crush and eat newborn piglets, hence farrowing crates that provide food and water to the sow and safe access to their mother's milk for the piglets; dairy cattle, if not de-horned, will gore each other, reducing productivity, increasing the risk of disease, and diminishing overall herd health. Remove these animal safety measures, farm animal mortality rates skyrocket, and the producer is no longer able to stay competitive thanks to the resulting huge losses. As a result, animal production in that state ceases...exactly what the HSUS wants it to do, yet they never said a word to the voting public about eliminating farm operations. Tricky, isn't it?

It is worth mentioning at this time one of my new favorite quotes: "The future of agriculture is guaranteed because the people in this world like to eat. It is the future of AMERICAN agriculture that we must fight to protect." As radical, uninformed organizations such as the HSUS continue to spread their misinformation to the citizens of this country, they are forcing our food production out of the United States to countries with far fewer food safety regulations (non-domestic food sources are a concern to 92% of the population). They will work to gain a foothold one state at a time until one day we will wake up and realize that although our demand for food has increased, our production of food has been eliminated and we are at the mercy of someone else to feed this country.

I am telling you this because in the near future, the Humane Society is coming after agriculture in our great state of Pennsylvania. They will show you pictures that seem shocking and spout statistics that make you want to cringe. They will use words like 'compassionate' and 'caring' in support of themselves and 'inhumane' and 'cruel' to downplay our producers. But, unlike in Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and California, farmers in PA are ready with the truth, and we can beat them. Ohio recently held off the HSUS by simply reminding the public that farmers and food are everywhere, and farmers are doing what is best for their animals and for their customers; the reminder worked and an overwhelming majority of the population voted against the Humane Society regulations. You, too, need to spread the word to family and friends about the importance of farming and the lies of the Humane Society. With education and support Pennsylvanians will also prevent the loss of an industry.

This is getting long winded, but I will leave you one last thought: the Clarion glass plant was recently selected to be closed down, eliminating good jobs and removing $250,000 per week in salaries from our local economy - a devastating blow that trickles down to every other business in the area. Animal agriculture in Pennsylvania provides $46.4 billion dollars to the state economy...are we going to fight to keep that money in our hands, or will we allow the smooth talking, well dressed, wealthy Wayne Pacelle to coax it out from under our noses?