Utah is Now the Second State this Year to Enact Anti-Investigation “Ag Gag” Law

Just a few short weeks after Iowa shamefully enacted an “ag-gag” bill in an effort to stop undercover investigations inside factory farms, Utah is now joining the list. Yesterday, Utah Governor Gary Herbert signed an “ag-gag” bill into law that makes “agriculture operation interference” a crime, punishable by up to one year in jail. What exactly is “agricultural operation interference”? It includes filming or photographing what’s really going on inside factory farms, pretty much making these facilities safe havens for animal abuse.

Why is big agribusiness working so feverishly to get these “ag-gag” bills introduced and passed into law? Because it knows that undercover investigations, like those conducted by Compassion Over Killing, are shining a spotlight on the hidden cruelties of food production. And because it knows that these investigations have a powerful impact on consumers who overwhelmingly care about how farmed animals are treated.

Time and time again, undercover footage from inside factory farms has shown that animal abuse is standard practice in the meat, milk, and egg industries.

By silencing animal advocates through “ag-gag” laws however, states are taking away the public’s right to know about the realities of where our food is coming from. Sadly, COK’s recent investigation inside Iowa’s Hawkeye Sow Centers — exposing day-to-day miseries forced upon thousands of female pigs intensively confined in tiny crates and their piglets who endure painful mutilations without any relief — may be the last time the public is able to see the inside of an Iowa factory farm.

While this is disheartening news, Compassion Over Killing will continue to fight against these bills and we need you to stand by our side. Together, we can keep cracking open the closed doors of factory farms to expose the truth and empower others to stand up for animals every time they sit down to eat.