Rabbit Advocacy Animal Matters

“Ag Gag” Bill Becomes Law in Idaho

March 6, 2014 National Hog Farmer

Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter recently signed into law a controversial bill that will help to protect animal production facilities from outside interference, according to Food Safety News. The law took effect with the governor’s signature.

Otter signed Senate Bill 1337 just after Chobani yogurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya broke with the rest of the $2.4-billion Idaho dairy industry by asking the governor to veto the bill.

Ulukaya told the governor that S. 1337 would help to limit transparency and make some instances of exposing the mistreatment of animals in the state punishable by imprisonment. The governor, in signing the bill, said Idaho agricultural producers must be secure in their property, as well as their livelihood.

Idaho is the seventh state to adopt so-called “ag-gag” provisions to their agriculture protection laws. They include prohibitions on falsifying employment applications and surreptitiously taking pictures or making videos. Animal-rights activists say the prohibitions are deliberately designed to silence or “gag” anyone attempting to collect evidence.

Idaho joins Iowa, Utah and Missouri in passing recent “ag-gag” laws. Three other states, North Dakota, Montana and Kansas, adopted the first generation of such measures during the 1990-91 legislative seasons. 

The Gem State dairy industry was stung in 2012 when Los Angeles-based Mercy for Animals sent an undercover operative into Idaho’s Bettencourt Dairy and produced videos showing animals being abused and sexually molested. Five hourly dairy employees were quickly fired and ultimately charged with, and convicted for, animal abuse.

In pushing back, the Idaho Dairymen’s Association said the 2012 incident was not just about prosecuting animal abuse. Dairymen testifying for the bill said the animals-rights activists were more interested in hurting the dairy and its brands than in helping animals.

Idaho’s new law came together very quickly. It was first introduced on Feb. 11 and was signed into law on Feb. 28. More than 100,000 animal-rights advocates from around the country signed a petition asking Otter to veto the bill. They are not happy, and claim the law will perpetuate animal abuse, endanger workers' rights and limits the public's ability to share information about the food supply.

Update: Judge Strikes Down Idaho 'Ag-Gag' Law, Raising Questions For Other States

August 4, 2015 National Public Radio (NPR)

Laws in Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and North Carolina have also made it illegal for activists to smuggle cameras into industrial animal operations. Idaho's so-called "ag-gag" law, which outlawed undercover investigations of farming operations, is no more.  A judge in the federal District Court for Idaho decided Monday that it was unconstitutional, citing First Amendment protections for free speech. But what about the handful of other states with similar laws on the books?

Laws in Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Iowa have also made it illegal for activists to smuggle cameras into industrial animal operations. A new North Carolina law goes into effect in January 2016. But now those laws' days could be numbered, according to the lead attorney for the coalition of animal welfare groups that sued the state of Idaho.

"This is a total victory on our two central constitutional claims," says University of Denver law professor Justin Marceau, who represented the plaintiff, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, in the case. "Ag-gag laws violate the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause. This means that these laws all over the country are in real danger."

"Ag-gag" refers to a variety of laws meant to curb undercover investigations of agricultural operations, often large dairy, poultry and pork farms. The Idaho law criminalized video or audio recording of a farm without the owner's consent and lying to a farm owner to gain employment there to do an undercover investigation.

Other "ag-gag" laws require that animal abuse be reported within a specific time frame, a tactic animal activists say is meant to prevent them from gathering evidence of an abuse pattern rather than just a singular event.

Utah's "ag-gag" law is the subject of another federal lawsuit, filed by the ALDF and PETA. Other states' laws go back to the early 1990s when Kansas passed criminal penalties for anyone found to damage or harm an agricultural research facility. Iowa's statute is considered to be the first in a batch of more recent "ag-gag" laws. Signed into law in 2012, it was the first to criminalize secretly videotaping a farm without the owner's permission.

https://www.aspca.org/animal-protection/public-policy/ag-gag-legislation-state

Instead of prosecuting people who reveal illegal animal cruelty on farms, police should be focused on monitoring and prosecuting farms that abuse animals.

Last Chance For Animals – End ag-gag laws! Protect animals & whistleblowers.

June 7, 2019 Factory Farming: Shedding Light on the Highly Secretive Industry. Torturous labor conditions and systemic animal abuse are well hidden by the industry. That is until investigators show up. Sentient Media.  https://sentientmedia.org/factory-farming-shedding-light-on-the-highly-secretive-industry/ They operate in the dark.

In a world where most animals are worth more dead than alive…those that kill them are protected…and those that protect them are incarcerated. Who is the real terrorist?

Until every animal is free ----- we won't back down. No justice. No peace.