Last year, a whistleblowing employee at Kreider Farms—an egg factory farm—exposed horrific animal cruelty inside their facilities. Animals with legs, wings, and heads trapped in wire cages, dead, mummified hens in cages alongside live, egg-laying hens, and birds left for days without water.
The anti-whistleblower “ag-gag” bill will seek to shield unethical activity on factory farms from public scrutiny. It would criminalize important undercover investigations by animal welfare organizations, including the Kreider Farms investigation.
Lawmakers in Pennsylvania should be encouraging laws that prevent animal abuse and food safety violations instead of attempting to make it easier for animal abusers to avoid detection by criminalizing whistleblowers.
More info on AgGag bills:
Through whistleblowing employees and undercover investigations, animal abuse, unsafe working conditions, and environmental problems are repeatedly exposed on industrial factory farms. farms. Rather than preventing problems, Big Ag is trying to hide them. Agribusiness interests want to criminalize whistle-blowing exposés by introducing “Ag-Gag” bills aimed at effectively blocking anyone from exposing animal cruelty, food safety issues, poor working conditions and more.
•Whistleblowing employees, undercover exposés, and investigative journalists protect the public.
• Animal welfare exposés in just the past few years at such facilities have led to closures of slaughter plants, felony criminal convictions, major meat recalls, and more.
•In a recent poll, it was revealed that 71 percent of Americans support undercover investigative efforts by animal welfare organizations to expose animal abuse on industrial farms and 64 percent oppose making such efforts illegal. The nationwide survey also found that 94 percent of Americans feel that it is important to have measures in place to ensure that food coming from farm animals is safe for people to eat, and 94 percent agree that animals raised for food on farms deserve to be free from abuse and cruelty.
•Lawmakers in Pennsylvania should be encouraging laws that prevent animal abuse as well as worker, environmental and food safety violations instead of attempting to make it easier for animal abusers to avoid detection within an industry that is already sorely lacking in transparency.
Please stop efforts to shield animal agribusiness from public scrutiny: Contact your state senator and your state representative to oppose so-called “responsible reporting” bills.
ABC Pennsylvania Egg-Factory Kreider Farms Accused of Animal Cruelty
Links to recent media:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Animal behavior: Whistleblowers shouldn’t be gagged on Pa. farms
ACLU : “Ag-Gag” Not Just About Animal Welfare
Philadelphia Inquirer: Legislator wants to limit sharing of agriculture photos
Washington Post: Cruelty to farm animals demands exposure
USA Today: ‘Ag-gag’ bills harm free speech
New York Times: Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime
Humane PA 