TRENTON – A pair of bills sponsored by Senate Economic Growth Committee Chairman Raymond J. Lesniak which would prohibit the use of “gestation crates” for pigs and the slaughter of horses or the sale of horse meat for human consumption in New Jersey was approved by the Committee today.
“We have to recognize that if our society values such things as justice, fairness and compassion, then we have a societal responsibility to apply those conditions across the board – in our dealings with people as well as animals,” said Senator Lesniak, D-Union. “German philosopher Immanuel Kant said it best when he said, ‘We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.’ If we are serious about fostering a moral and ethical society, we have to be concerned not just with cruelty and injustice perpetrated by humans against humans, but also cruelty and injustice perpetrated by humans against the animal kingdom.”