State Fair Board Must Outlaw Cruelty

This LETTER TO THE EDITOR, published March 11, 2014, was sent to 50 newspapers statewide:

State Fair board must outlaw cruelty

I recently hand-delivered a petition to all 120 state legislators, requesting support for three animal welfare issues at our California State Fair (July 11-27):

1. A ban on the brutal farrowing crates. Pregnant sows are caged and kept nearly immobile for three straight weeks, and forced to give birth on a bare metal grid -- a true crime against nature (and a violation of Penal Code 597t). No county fairs feature these cruel exhibits.

Photo: ALDF (Animal Legal Defense Fund)

2. A ban on giving away goldfish as prizes. About 15,000 goldfish were doled out at the 2013 fair. Many will meet an early demise, be dumped in the wild or flushed down the toilet.

3. A ban on the sale of hermit crabs as pets. All are taken from the wild, depleting local populations. Like the goldfish, these animals are treated as expendables -- what a terrible message to send impressionable young children.

The State Fair board has received more than 3,000 letters in support of these modest proposals. Please contact your own senator and assembly member (find your California Representative) and urge them to sign the petition -- good for the animals, good for business.

All legislators may be written c/o The State Capitol, Sacramento, CA 95814. The Fair Board may be emailed at calexpoboard@calexpo.com.

Eric Mills
Coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
P.O. Box 20184
Oakland, CA  94620

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