Mayor Joseph Torlucci said that at its meeting next Monday, the council will likely pass a resolution that condemns factory farming-a practice that allows corporate farming companies to stockpile large amounts of animals on their property, often resulting in animals being brutalized and treated inhumanely.

The resolution came to Cedar Grove’s attention through the work of two organizations-a local temple and Farm Sanctuary, a national group that is leading the fight to prevent animals from being harshly treated on factory farms.

“Cantor (Mark) Perman (of Temple Shalom West Essex) sent us the information regarding this,” Torlucci said, “He provided us with good information concerning this issue.”

The issue has been taught to sixth- and seventh-grade students from Temple Shalom by Perman, who is teaching about Judaic laws and respect for life. Students from the temple wrote to the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, asking the agency to develop tighter standards that would guarantee the humane treatment of animals on farms.

Perman has also been seeking help from other religious leaders throughout the area, trying to find others who agree with the cause.

“As religious people, we should have compassion for all of God’s creatures,” Perman said.

Perman has been working with Farm Sanctuary, a group that not only is fighting to have factory farming made more humane, but also rescues and cares for animals that have suffered cruel treatment.

“We’re like a Humane Society for larger animals,” said Gene Bauston, the director of Farm Sanctuary. “We take care of animals but we also work to prevent cruelty in farming. A lot of the larger scale industrial farms hurt their animals for increased production. Many states do not offer any animals protection against these blatant abuses.”

Bauston said that the abuses vary. The most common occurs during the production of veal, where calves are forced to live their lives in small pens, unable to move. Similarly, pigs are often kept in pens that are just two feet wide, rendering them immobile for most of their lives. Oftentimes, too, animals are placed, in bulk, in garbage cans when they die.

Bauston also noted that one doesn’t have to travel far to see factory farming up close. While most large farms operate in more rural areas of the country, both Pennsylvania and New York are home to several farms where livestock animals are treated poorly.

Recently, an egg farm in western New Jersey that produced over 1 million eggs a year was brought to court for their treatment of chickens and hens. The chickens, Bauston said, were forced to live their lives in tiny coops with their faces pressed up against steel cages.

“These animals are treated like they are inanimate commodities. Most people, when they find out about it, find the act of factory farming to be absolutely repugnant,” Bauston said.

Torlucci said he was unaware of the practices of factory farming until he was approached about the subject.

“This isn’t something that ever came to my mind. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t important,” Torlucci said. “This resolution seems like it’s a nice way to help support actions in the state to try and improve conditions for these animals.”

Currently, the state does have laws on the books to prevent large farms from abusing animals. But according to Bauston, the New Jersey Department of Agriculture-which oversees farms in the state-has yet to fully develop the codes governing large-scale livestock farming.

Once its government does define the parameters of factory farming practices, New Jersey will be among the leaders in the fight against animal cruelty, according to Bauston.

“It’s so slow a procedure because it is so revolutionary. New Jersey’s laws are going to be precedent-setting. New Jersey is really going to be moving the bar forward for not just them, but for the entire United States,” Bauston said.

And once those laws are firmly in place, Cedar Grove officials can rightfully brag about being among the first to get on the bandwagon.

“There should really be more humane ways to manage animals,” Torlucci said.