Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime -Crime

New proposed legislation's would ban undercover videotaping on livestock farms and also make applying at a job for one without disclosing ones ties to animal rights groups’ illegal as well. They also intend on making it required to have any videos taken turned into the authorities immediately. Animal rights activist feel that it’s unfair and an injustice. After all they have been extremely successful in discovering and being the reason cases of animal cruelty in livestock farms has been put to an end. In 2011 they turned in footage of workers on a Tennessee farm dripping chemicals onto horse’s ankles and clasping metal chains on the injured tissue. This is an illegal technique known as “soring” which is used to force horses to walk in a certain way that is favored by breeders. In Wyoming undercover animal rights activist were able to capture videos of the workers physically abusing pigs by punching and kicking them, they even went so far as to throw the animals in the air. They also have film of one of the country’s largest egg supplier treating the hens inhumanely. Each of these videos led to some form of justice for the animals. Federal Prosecutors in Tennessee charged the workers with criminal acts, local authorities in Wyoming charged nine of those employees with cruelty to animals, and the egg supplier lost one of its biggest customers, McDonalds. In the Tennessee case with the horse’s prosecutors credited the Humane Society with prompting the federal investigation and establishing “evidence instrumental to the case.” Without being able to go undercover for extended periods of time animal’s rights activist and members of the humane society wouldn’t be able to really make a difference. I feel like the reason for this bill is because the government doesn’t really care nor want to deal with crime towards animals. As far as the farms themselves, they’re the only people who can make them look bad so if they are doing everything in the proper way they should have nothing to worry about. If the law was really doing what they need to be doing as far as investigations on animal cruelty ect… than it wouldn’t be necessary for activist to do that. I definitely would consider this to be an “Ag- Gag” bill and it causes issues not only to animal protection activists, but also to those concerned with food safety, labor issues, free speech, and freedom of the press and therefore I disagree with it completely.


http://animalrights.about.com/od/animallaw/a/What-Are-Ag-Gag-Laws-And-Why-Are-They-Dangerous.htm