THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

172

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

RECOGNIZING FARM ANIMALS AS SENTIENT BEINGS THAT DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT AND PROTECTED FROM INHUMANE TREATMENT.

 

WHEREAS, farm animals that are raised for food are sentient beings that are capable of awareness, feelings, and suffering; and

WHEREAS, agriculture has changed markedly over the past fifty years, as traditional family farms have been replaced by industrialized factory farms where animals are routinely exploited and treated like "tools of production" or "inventory," rather than as living, feeling creatures; and

WHEREAS, millions of cows, pigs, and chickens spend their entire lives confined in cages or crates so small that they cannot walk, turn around, or even lie down comfortably; and

WHEREAS, those intensive confinement systems and conditions are so cruel and cause so much pain and suffering that European countries have outlawed them; however, they remain legal in the United States despite widespread public opposition; and

WHEREAS, human beings have an ethical obligation to refrain from causing pain and suffering to other sentient beings; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislature recognizes that farm animals are sentient beings that deserve to be treated with respect and protected from inhumane treatment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Chairperson of the Board of Agriculture and the heads of the Farm Sanctuary Hawaii, Hawaii Farm Bureau, Hawaii Humane Society, and American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Farm animals as sentient beings.