Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation anti-videoing legislation — “ag-gag”

by Joe Loria

“Please, Note there is a video at the end of this post. however it is very graphic”

**According to the Idaho Statesman, Idaho has been ordered to pay nearly $250,000 in legal fees for a case, that could have been avoided.**

In 2012, Mercy For Animals released findings of an undercover investigation at Bettencourt Dairies in Hansen, Idaho, where workers were exposed stomping, beating, dragging, and otherwise torturing the cows.

In response to the investigation, the Idaho Dairymen’s Association drafted and sponsored an ag-gag bill, which was passed by the Idaho legislature and signed by Governor Otter in February 2014. This law created a new crime: “interference with agricultural production.” It essentially criminalized undercover investigations on factory farms.

A federal judge overturned this dangerous and un-American law last August for violating the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution. U.S. district judge B. Lynn Winmill stated in his ruling:

The effect of the statute will be to suppress speech by undercover investigators and whistleblowers concerning topics of great public importance: the safety of the public food supply, the safety of agricultural workers, the treatment and health of farm animals, and the impact of business activities on the environment.

The coalition of nonprofit groups that challenged the law has now been awarded $249,875.08 in legal fees. Clearly ag-gag laws are not only unconstitutional, but a huge waste of taxpayer resources. Idaho is now appealing the court ruling, which will result in an even greater waste of taxpayer money.

The governor and lawmakers of Idaho should be ashamed. They clearly don’t value their hard working constituents and will accept money from big corporations at the taxpayers’ expense.

We urge Idaho lawmakers to focus their efforts on improving animal welfare and rewarding the brave whistleblowers who uncover criminal activity in the state’s agricultural operations.

This ruling should also be a wake-up call to the meat, dairy, and egg industries that attempt to keep consumers in the dark about where their food comes from will not be tolerated.

For more information, please visit NoAgGag.com.

VERY GRAPHIC – This is just one of Mercy For Animals Video’s taken in an Ohio Dairy Farm (not the video in question)

Uploaded on 25 May 2010

Hidden camera video secretly shot by an investigator with Mercy For Animals at an Ohio dairy farm reveals shocking, malicious cruelty to calves and cows. The video, recorded between April and May, 2010, shows dairy farm workers beating cows in the face with crowbars, stabbing them with pitchforks, breaking their tails, and punching, throwing, and kicking calves.

Find out what you can do to help at:
http://mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/

News Link: http://www.mfablog.org/study-number-of-vegans-in-britain-up-360

“Those who secretly film the atrocious acts of violence are not terrorist; they merely want the PUBLIC to know the truth about the lives of the animals you eat & how they are treated. Imagine how it feels for them? animal lovers, having to watch the abuse happening all around them…to enable the public to see the truth. I think they deserve a bloody medal; for keeping their hands off the MF’ing bxxxxxxd’s committing such horrifying acts !!

YOU the meat-eating public, have the right to know the animals you eat have been treated with respect; before going to slaughter!! AG- GAG laws were introduced to protect those allowing the cruelty to continue to their animals, & protect those who commit the crimes; what happened to freedom of speech??? They don’t want you, the paying pubic to know the heinous acts of cruelty that go on behind their closed doors; because they know they are likely to lose business !!.

NO ANIMAL meant for human consumption should be treated worse than shit on shoes; they are sentient beings more than capable of feeling the pain of every blow, kick, punch etc. They give their lives for you…please don’t let them suffer in silence! AG-GAG Laws were introduced to stop the public knowing the truth…the animals have the right to dignity & the public have the right to know how they are being treated! Please, sign the petition at http://www.walmartcruelty.com/ scroll to the bottom half to sign”

“Watch the videos below. if you can stomach them, is it fair for animals to be treated this way? YOU have the power to help stop this; please use it & stop AG-Gag Laws!!”

Posted: Sunday, February 23, By Randy Stapilus

Backers of the Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation anti-videoing legislation — “ag-gag” — have already lost the war, even if the legislation passes. Especially if it passes.

Their best hope is to change strategy.

Senate Bill 1337, which has passed the Senate, bars a person who “without the facility owner’s express consent or pursuant to judicial process or statutory authorization, makes audio or video recordings of the conduct of an agricultural production facility’s operations.” More specifically, it’s intended to ban (though various existing laws already theoretically do) the videotaping of what happens to livestock in concentrated animal feeding operations.

This is significant in Idaho, home to some very large CAFO operations in the Magic Valley and southwest. The new bill would punish violators with up to a year in jail or a $5,000 fine; critics note that’s the same as the state penalty for animal abuse.

Similar legislation has been proposed, most often failing to pass, in more than a dozen states; a Utah law is being challenged in the courts.

The Idaho bill was specifically prompted by a video shot in 2012 at Bettencourt Dairy at Hansen, showing workers beating on livestock. Last week another video shot at an Idaho CAFO, which added animal sexual abuse to the mix, was released. Both have had many, many views, and they’ve gone viral on social media.

We can’t know if the videos alone would have generated massive international attention. We do know the videos, combined with legislation to ban shooting more of them, has sent interest in the subject sky high in news reports nationally and overseas.

The story is irresistible: An attempt to keep the lid on what people have already seen. But memories aren’t so easily erased. Nor is the technology, which keeps moving in the direction of disclosure, as privacy advocates regularly remind us.

Among other responses to the bill are petitions — some inside Idaho, some by national animal advocacy groups. Petitions usually do little by themselves, but they can assist organization efforts, and they keep the subject visible.

Not only are smaller and relatively hard-core groups like Mercy for Animals, which released the Bettencourt videos, involved in this, but also larger and better-funded groups like the Humane Society of the United States. The subject of CAFO livestock has gone mainstream.

If you doubt that, watch the latest series offering from Netflix: The satirical but pointed “Farmed and Dangerous.” The initial plot hook involves an exploding cow. Once issues like this get into cultural discussion, national regulation and legislation may, in time, follow. It’s in the spotlight now.

The Magic Valley has benefited recently from arrival of a number of food processors who came there largely because of the easy supply of dairy products. Don’t be surprised if boycotts of some of them start — and lead to business responses. To see this playing out, Google the Wiese Brothers Farms in Wisconsin and read about the videos and other reports that led a frozen pizza company to cut all ties with them.

Nor is that all. If SB 1337 is signed into law (as seems likely), watch for this: An activist who deliberately violates it, shooting more video, intending to get caught, and insisting on a very public trial that could draw more national and international attention, kicking in the cycle all over again.

The problem for livestock operations is not insoluble. The simplest out is to improve and closely monitor operations, then throw open the doors for public viewing.

Some CAFO advocates have argued that much of what has been shown on the videos has been unusual aberrations, that most livestock is treated better before slaughter than the videos suggest. An open-door policy would be the one practical way to prove it.

Some of what inevitably happens in the best of meat processing businesses is of course difficult for many people to stomach, but the operators could fairly argue that if you want your meat at the supermarket, this is how it has to get there. Since most people do want their steaks and burgers, the argument might settle down, on at least higher ground than it occupies now.

Legislation has its uses. But CAFOs here have among other things a public relations problem, and these kinds of laws seldom are much help with that.

* Randy Stapilus is a former Idaho newspaper reporter and editor, author of The Idaho Political Field Guide, edits the Idaho Weekly Briefing, and blogs at www.ridenbaugh.com. He can be reached at stapilus@ridenbaugh.com.

News Link:–http://www.idahopress.com/members/ag-gag-bill-probably-wins-battle-but-not-war/article_4488bde2-9b58-11e3-a2a3-001a4bcf887a.html

Viewer Discretion Advised -WATCH: Walmart Pork Supplier Caught Abusing Mother Pigs and Piglets

Published on 29 Oct 2013

A new Mercy For Animals undercover investigation reveals shocking cruelty to animals at Walmart pork suppliers. Workers hit, throw, and drop mother pigs and their baby piglets. Learn more and take action at http://www.WalmartCruelty.com

The video below is just a reminder of how animals are treated, without undercover investigations the public wouldn’t have a clue about the atrocities that happened at this farm!

Viewer Discretion Advised -OHIO Dairy Farm Brutality

Hidden camera video secretly shot by an investigator with Mercy For Animals at an Ohio dairy farm reveals shocking, malicious cruelty to calves and cows. The video, recorded between April and May, 2010, shows dairy farm workers beating cows in the face with crowbars, stabbing them with pitchforks, breaking their tails, and punching, throwing, and kicking calves.

Find out what you can do to help at:
http://mercyforanimals.org/ohdairy/