Which state will see next fight over animal welfare?

The animal-agriculture and meatpacking industries are wondering which state will be the next target of the Humane Society of the United States, which recently struck a compromise with the Ohio Farm Bureau to keep an animal-welfare issue off the ballot this fall.

"Missouri, Oklahoma, Illinois and Nebraska have all been mentioned as the next possible targets," reports Ken Anderson of Brownfield Network. "In Nebraska, the executive director of the state’s pork producer association, Larry Sitzman, says livestock groups have been discussing strategy and are preparing for a fight." Anderson's story is short, but it has a link to a six-minute interview with Sitzman.

The HSUS is interested in all kinds of animals. Its bill to regulate dog breeders in North Carolina "has been shelved as that state's legislative session winds down," Julie Harker of Brownfield reports.