Martha Stewart joins Bill Maher in call for Chris Christie to ban pig cages
Martha Stewart is the latest celebrity to stand up for pigs in New Jersey!
In a letter that arrived at Gov. Chris Christie’s office Tuesday, Stewart urges him to sign an animal welfare bill that will ban keeping mother pigs in her native NJ in crates so small they can’t even turn around.
The bill overwhelmingly passed the Senate and Assembly, and will follow similar bills in nine states, including California, Arizona, Florida, and others. The bill has the support of the Humane Society of the United States, ASCPA, Farm Sanctuary, and 94 percent of New Jersey voters.
Stewart sent the letter at the request of Farm Sanctuary (America’s leading farm animal protection organization) fast on the heels of fellow NJ native Bill Maher’s op-ed in Saturday’s New York Times (also written at the request of Farm Sanctuary), and a letter to the Governor from Danny Devito.
Maher wrote: “Pigs are smart animals — the brainiacs of the barnyard, basically. They have outperformed dogs on tests of behavioral and cognitive sophistication. In fact, they learn rudimentary video games as quickly as chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives.”
Stewart writes that “All animals need to turn around; they were designed that way. But pigs, especially, are interesting individuals with unique personalities and complex behavior and cognition.”
While some may still oppose the humanizing of animals, in this case the pigs, no one is defending the inhumane treatment of the animals.
