An Expensive & Risky Wager

In the battle over California’s Proposition 2 a Modesto egg producer is staking 3.2 million in a “put up or shut up” wager that the “enriched colony system” they’re building, the same system approved by the European Union’s strictly enforced animal welfare codes, will pass muster with the  Humane Society of the United States. As it stands it’s a very risky bet indeed. Like “Mikey” in the “Life Cereal” commercials of the 1970’s the Humane Society doesn’t like anything set before them when it comes to farm groups and animal welfare.  If given the chance, the Humane Society would probably take up issue with most nesting fowl in the wild due to the fact that bird nests would not meet their high standards for animal comfort and safety, not to mention privacy. Hopefully if worse comes to worse and this dispute does land in a criminal court any judge and jury will have the common sense to dismiss any charges of animal welfare violations, and J.S. West & Co., the egg producer placing this wager won’t end up with egg on their face.