Another chamber votes to oppose organizations like HSUS

The Kearney Chamber of Commerce approved a resolution this week that supports current livestock production practices, animal husbandry and regulations for humane treatment of food production animals. In essence, the chamber voted to oppose organizations like the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) that threaten ballot initiatives if their own set of animal care standards are not adopted.

The chamber also pledged to support "the livestock and agriculture industry and oppose any current or future actions by organizations that would work to eliminate livestock for food production, harming our economy and way of life," as reported in the Kearney Hub.

This is the second chamber of commerce in Nebraska to approve that sort of language, as the Hastings Chamber of Commerce adopted a similar resolution in April.

At that time, Tom Hastings, president of the Hastings Chamber of Commerce, told Brownfield, "With talking and finding out some of the things that this organization [HSUS] had done in other states, we just felt that we needed to be proactive in taking a stance against some of the actions and some of the things that they have been trying to do. Especially because agriculture is the number-one industry in the state of Nebraska." (For a report from KHAS-TV, click here.)

Jan Rodehorst, executive director of the Kearney Chamber, told the Hub that chamber members have talked about a statement of support for the past few months and that discussions relating to the issue occurred at meetings with other chambers. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman has also been vocal on the issue.

“The Humane Society of the United States is anti-agriculture and they’re out to destroy animal agriculture – and if they want to come to Nebraska, we’re going to fight them and we’re going to beat them,” Heineman told Brownfield in December. “Agriculture is the number one industry in this state. It’s what makes our economy so strong. I’m going to stand tall and this is a fight we won’t shy away from.” He did a similar interview with KRVN.


For a collection of previous posts on HSUS, click here.