Issue 2 OK’d; opponents vow new fight

Animal-rights activists want more stringent protections.

COLUMBUS(AP) — Ohio voters struck hard by the economy sided with large farm operators in a battle over livestock care.

A ballot issue creating a new board that oversees livestock care was approved by 65 percent of voters, with 54 percent of precincts statewide reporting.

The issue was intended to thwart efforts by the Humane Society of the United States to outlaw holding sows, hens and veal calves in cramped cages or crates.

Michael Markarian, the Humane Society’s chief operating officer, said the group will return to Ohio with a future ballot measure that protects animals.

“By packaging Issue 2 as a pro-animal and pro-food safety measure, the factory farming interests really did everything they could to ensure its passage,” he said.

“We never really viewed it as a poisonous measure but we viewed it as an empty one, because it doesn’t achieve any reforms for animal welfare.”

Large farm operators mounted a $4 million campaign to pass the issue, which was backed by Gov. Ted Strickland, while environmental, animal rights and other activists fought it mostly through the press and the Internet.

In Mahoning County, Issue 2 passed with 72 percent of the vote, according to unofficial returns.