To the editor:

On August 8 a joint meeting of the Westport Board of Health (BOH) and the Westport Agricultural Commission (AgCom) was held. During that meeting AgCom members expressed support for the establishment of an animal site registry in Westport. This was a welcome development after our two-year struggle to get local farmers engaged in finding ways to ensure that the type of systemic farm animal cruelty which occurred on the Medeiros tenant farm in 2010 and in 2016 never happens again.

Five days later, on August 13, AgCom held a meeting and voted 8-0 against supporting an animal site registry. They offered no alternative solutions. Both of these meetings were taped, and we encourage all Westport residents to watch the tapes.

Westport is a “Right to Farm Community.” Yet is seems some farmers devalue that last word: “Community.” The Westport community includes all of us. Yes, farmers are important to our town, but so are those of us who are not farmers.

We have rights too. We pay taxes, we abide by the law, we do our best to be good citizens and support our community. We have the right to live in a community where animal abuse is not simply swept under the rug. We have the right to be outraged when our community becomes known as the site of the “worst farm animal cruelty case in the history of the Northeast.” And, we have the right to stand up and say, “I don’t want my tax dollars spent on cleaning up the aftermath of horrific animal neglect and abuse.”

Farmers do not make up the majority of residents in Westport, yet they have an appointed commission dedicated to voicing their concerns. What about those of us who do not farm? What about those of us who cannot tolerate the idea of having another animal abuse tragedy occur in our town? Who speaks for us? Who represents our interests to the BOH and to the rest of town government?

That is where activism comes in. We must speak for ourselves as we have no town-sponsored body to lobby for us. Stop the Insanity, Westport! was founded to do just that. We currently have over 200 Westport residents on our master list, all of whom have asked to be kept informed on local animal welfare issues. So our board took a vote and we voted 12-0 to continue lobbying the BOH to establish an animal site registry. We will continue to press for regulatory changes to protect farm animals from neglect and abuse.

We will not back down, because #Weliveheretoo!

Kathy Feininger

For Stop the Insanity, Westport!