Dale austin american humane association

Steer-tailing involves a mounted cowboy grasping the tail of a steer and bringing the animal to the ground. Had the bill become law, Colorado would have joined several states and numerous counties and cities with bans or restrictions on horse-tripping but only the second to ban cattle-tailing.

Nebraska enacted a similar statewide ban in On her website, McCann said the controversy surrounding steer-tailing at an August Jefferson County rodeo made her aware of the practice, and she cited concerns over injuries to the animals as the inspiration for the bill. American Humane Association chief operating officer Dale Austin said he supports the eventual criminalization of steer-tailing and horse-tripping. Is there a benefit for them to spend extra money to be GAP certified?

Will Whole Foods be offering producers incentives, or will this now be the cost of doing business? The irony is that most consumers who plug into welfare issues strive to buy their meat products from smaller producers who typically already have humane practices.

With limited resources, it's particularly difficult for these small players to add additional tracking and audit systems to satisfy a certification. Whereas larger producers can hire additional hands to deal with this end of the business, that's not always an option for the little guys.

If Whole Foods requires all meat to be GAP certified, this could be a huge disservice to small producers. I'm interested to see how the store plans to make such a certification feasible both monetarily and structure-wise. The store declined to comment on this story but said to look for additional information in January. Overall, I'm encouraged by Whole Foods' move to better address animal welfare issues in the store. I also like that the GAP program is free and will soon be available for any retailer to participate in.

According to Park, GAP was founded in and essentially born from Whole Foods Market when the store was working to develop a set of farm animal standards. Though Whole Foods could have easily owned the program, they gave up the intellectual property so other stores could participate.

I think this speaks highly of the organization. Home News Animal welfare rating system encourages ethical purchases at the meat counter. Natural Foods Merchandiser brought to you by. Animal welfare rating system encourages ethical purchases at the meat counter. A six-step, color-coded labeling system allows customers to choose meat that aligns with their principles and is being piloted in the South by Whole Foods Market. Currently, standards are in place for cattle raised for beef, broiler chickens and pigs.

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