Taping of farm cruelty is becoming the crime

[Police Moderator]

Taping of farm cruelty is becoming the crime
Posted: Apr 07, 2013
State lawmakers have successfully pushed through laws that would make it illegal for someone to tape animal cruelty.

(NBC) -- On one covert video, farm workers illegally burn the ankles of Tennessee walking horses with chemicals. Another captures workers in Wyoming punching and kicking pigs and flinging piglets into the air. And at one of the country's largest egg suppliers, a video shows hens caged alongside rotting bird corpses, while workers burn and snap off the beaks of young chicks.

Each video — all shot in the last two years by undercover animal rights activists — drew a swift response: Federal prosecutors in Tennessee charged the horse trainer and other workers, who have pleaded guilty, with violating the Horse Protection Act. Local authorities in Wyoming charged nine farm employees with cruelty to animals. And the egg supplier, which operates in Iowa and other states, lost one of its biggest customers, McDonald's, which said the video played a part in its decision.

But a dozen or so state legislatures have had a different reaction: They proposed or enacted bills that would make it illegal to covertly videotape livestock farms, or apply for a job at one without disclosing ties to animal rights groups. They have also drafted measures to require such videos to be given to the authorities almost immediately, which activists say would thwart any meaningful undercover investigation of large factory farms.

Critics call them "Ag-Gag" bills.

Read more: wrcbtv.com

[Warkitty]

The ag-gag bills are travesties. Seriously.

[Police Moderator]

Vote Down The AgGag Bill
Monday, April 08, 2013 - by Roy Exum

When Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill last year that would make soring a Tennessee Walking Horse a Class E felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, it seemed like Tennessee was finally trying to do something about being the only tribe of people in the world who intentionally harm their native animals in order to collect a blue ribbon.

Because there is a huge loophole – anyone who is trying to “train” a horse is exempted – the slimy Big Lick crowd of the walking horse industry can and will do as they have done for the last fifty years. Tomorrow the “Big Lick” will try to add insult to injury, if you will pardon the pun, when the state legislature is expected to pass an atrocious bill that – get this – would make the those who take covert pictures and videos of animals being abused the criminals instead of the heroes.

Andy Holt, a farmer from Dresden, Tenn., calls people like those who took the world-famous video of trainer Jackie McConnell savagely beating and torturing horses last year as “vigilantes.” The bill he has pushed through the Agriculture Committee demanded at anyone who takes pictures and/or videos must surrender them to authorities within 24 hours or be charged with a misdemeanor.

Anybody who has ever watched CSI or any crime TV knows full and well such a bill is Godsend to a thug. In this day of criminal investigation, the bill is clearly and cleverly designed to protect a villain who drives a nail in a horse’s pastern so the animal will pick its hooves up higher. While it is no secret Holt is in bed with the “Big Lick” crowd, what is puzzling is that fellow committee member Richard Floyd (R-Chattanooga) forwarded the bill, as did Chattanooga’s Todd Gardenhire, now in the state Senate.

Read more: chattanoogan

[Warkitty]

Sadistic bastards.

[Police Moderator]

FYI:


Rep. Richard Floyd
R-Chattanooga
District 27

301 6th Avenue North
Suite G-24 War Memorial Building
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]
[e-mail]


Senator Todd Gardenhire
R-Chattanooga
District 10

301 6th Avenue North
Suite 11A Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243
Phone [phone]
Fax [phone]
[e-mail]

[Justin Thyme]

Richard Floyd is the same guy that will stomp a mudhole in a transgendered persons ass if he catches them in the wrong bathroom. I use to work with this guy back in the 70s. He's a fairly charismatic person but something about him always made it hard for me to trust him.