NC Ag-Gag Bill Now on Governor’s Desk, Just Days after COK Releases Slaughterhouse Abuse Video

On Monday night, the North Carolina Senate passed HB405/SB433, sending this dangerous Ag-Gag bill to Governor Pat McCrory’s desk – and he may decide today whether to sign it or veto it.  

This bill threatens to punish any employee who exposes any wrong-doing inside a business, whether a slaughterhouse, a child daycare, or an assisted living home for seniors.  It reached the Governor’s desk just days after COK released a powerful undercover video inside Mountaire Farms, a North Carolina slaughterhouse, revealing cruelty to chickens, including birds being violently thrown and punched.

Shortly after our video was made public, Mountaire Farms responded, stating “we find the actions depicted to be totally unacceptable,” yet if North Carolina’s ag-gag bill had already been enacted, it would have prevented these violent acts from ever coming to light. The case is now being reviewed by law enforcement authorities in Robeson County.

Rather than doing the right thing to stop these abuses from happening, the North Carolina chicken industry is desperately trying to pass this ag-gag bill to prevent Americans from seeing such cruelty.

Gov. McCrory should follow in the footsteps of other Republican governors such as Arizona’s Doug Ducey and Tennessee’s Bill Haslam by vetoing this shameful ag-gag bill. A veto would reflect the values expressed by North Carolinians in a new poll conducted by Lake Research Partners:

• 74% of North Carolina voters say they support undercover investigations by animal welfare groups on farms.
• By a margin of nearly 3 to 1, North Carolina voters oppose legislation that would prevent these undercover investigations.

This isn’t the first time North Carolina has attempted to pass an Ag-Gag law that aims to keep Americans in the dark. Undercover investigations in North Carolina have exposed shocking cruelty, including sick and injured birds being buried alive at a chicken factory farm.

• Sign & share this petition asking Gov. McCrory to veto the ag-gag bill
• Post this on FB: URGENT: This may be the last whistleblowing exposé in NC if HB 405/SB 433 – the Ag-Gag bill – becomes law. It’s now sitting on Governor Pat McCrory’s desk. Please ask him to VETO THE AG-GAG BILL: http://change.org/ncaggag
• Retweet us now OR Post this on twitter: Ag-Gag ALERT: Pls ask @PatMcCroryNC to veto the #NCAgGag bill. Sign & RT this @Change petition now: http://change.org/ncaggag