This week marks two years since ghastly discoveries at the Medeiros tenant farm made national news and rattled our collective sense of self here in Westport. It has been a frustrating but very educational time for those of us who have been on the front lines of fighting for change to make sure such a thing never again happens in our town. While there is not much positive to report on the slowly moving court cases or at the state level, there is good news to share on the local front.

First, we now have a director of public health. We lobbied hard for this staffing position. We are grateful to the Board of Selectmen for its support in this hiring. We thank those of you at Town Meeting who voted for the budgeting of this position.

Second, the Board of Health called a public hearing two weeks ago to discuss the possibility of establishing an animal site registry. We have been pressing for this for a long time now. We are grateful to finally feel heard; to see there may be a way forward. We credit our new Director of Public Health Matt Armendo with this welcomed development.

Here’s why we need an animal site registry:

Westport currently does not know where thousands of farm animals are kept within its perimeters. This is a serious problem both in terms of animal welfare and public health.

The state mandates annual “barn book” inspection of commercial farms and Chapter 61A properties, but cannot share inspection findings with localities. The Medeiros property was 61A. Westport also has numerous “backyard farms,” none of which are registered with the state, so receive no inspection.

An animal site registry that includes all properties on which livestock is kept would provide the mechanism for an annual site inspection so the health and situation of the animals can be monitored. Not only could this spare suffering, but might also save taxpayers thousands of dollars cleaning up the filth after the fact (tens of thousands in the Medeiros case).

A site registry would include information on manure management. Proper manure management is crucial to clean drinking water and to the health of our wetlands and river. A site registry would also help first responders more readily locate livestock owners when animals wander into roads or abutting property.

Please join us in support of an animal site registry. Email our Select Board (bos@westport-ma.gov) and Director of Public Health Matt Armendo (armendom@westport-ma.gov) to let them know that you want to see better oversight of farm animals and greater attention given to public health issues surrounding animal husbandry. 

Constance Gee

Kathy Feininger

Westport

Writing on behalf of Stop the Insanity, Westport!