I was born and raised in Des Moines, and I've always been proud to be a Midwesterner. There's a clarity, a straightforwardness, a candor and an honesty -- and a type of clear thinking -- that comes from being from the Midwest.
That's why I was so disappointed to hear about a bill currently in Iowa's Legislature that gives the impression that Iowa has something to be ashamed of -- a dirty secret to hide.
House File 589 would make it illegal to photograph farmed animals without first getting permission from the farmer. What are they trying to hide? Do Iowa farms house really famous animals like Miss Piggy and Babe and this law just seeks to protect them from paparazzi?
If only. What they are trying to hide are the routine violations of state and federal anti-cruelty laws that have been documented in Iowa and across the country.
In 2008, my friends at PETA went undercover at a Greene County factory farm that supplied pigs to Hormel. The group found that workers were beating pigs with metal rods, sexually abusing them with canes, jabbing clothespins into their eyes and more.
Because of PETA's investigation, six workers were charged with a total of 22 counts of livestock neglect and abuse. All of them admitted guilt. Pork magazine called this case a "wake-up call" for the industry -- but three years later, the industry is still hitting the snooze button.
Iowa's anti-filming bill has already passed the House and is currently being considered in the Senate.
If HF 589 becomes law, whistleblowers who try to expose cruelty to animals in the meat, dairy or egg industries could be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, face criminal prosecution and be ordered to pay heavy fines or even serve jail time. That's a harsher punishment than the actual perpetrators of animal abuse receive, in many cases.
Citizens' right to document cruelty to animals -- wherever it occurs -- is crucial in helping local, state and federal officials enforce anti-cruelty laws. Authorities can't be everywhere at once, and funding for enforcement of anti-cruelty laws is sorely lacking in most places. What we need are more cameras on factory farms, not fewer.
It seems to me that this odd Iowa bill is a reaction to an animal agriculture bill in California a few years ago. That bill didn't seek to circumvent laws by forbidding cameras, it sought to address increasing concerns about how animals are treated in the meat industry and establish more humane practices. And the bill passed with overwhelming support from both conservatives and liberals.
I hope Iowa legislators recognize that with more and more consumers demanding better treatment of animals, they need to work to enforce and strengthen laws, not criminalize the actions of those trying to expose illegal cruelty.
This post first appeared at the Des Moines Register.
All of these hounds were sickeningly emaciated, literally covered in ticks and pressure sores; all were stacked in small crates outside with no food or water available to them. The hounds were split up between a couple of rescue groups, most of them in the DFW area.
The worst part: I've learned that the individual responsible for this has only been charged with a misdemeanor for the deaths of 3 of the dogs, Rachel, Pudge, and Martin. The other 25 are, to my knowledge, alive and well. The maximum sentence that he would receive: a year. Only a year. But he may not even get jail time, which is DISGUSTING because he deserves it!!!
I guess what I'm trying to say is, animal cruelty is a crime, but people hardly treat it as such. It's unbelievable what people can get away with these days, and it's amazing that the neighbors of the man allowed things to get this bad. Things need to change. Badly.
You can visit the various rescue group sites for pictures, if you feel you can stomach them. Links are in this thread: http://www.greybark.net/forums/topic/700-28-sighthounds-seized-in-ft-worth-texas/
Link to an article detailing the seizure: http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/07/14/2336353/animal-control-removes-28-malnourished.html#storylink=omni_popular
The "meat" industry would like all of their butchering and inhumane actions to remain hidden. And any politician who supports hiding these actions is operating quite simply for the sake of money. Donations from the "meat" industry are plentiful if you help them hide their crimes.
There is no such thing as "meat". The word appears in grocery stores along with "bakery", "dairy" and "canned goods". The industry of butchering does not want anyone thinking of their products as dead animal flesh, even though that's what it is. They just want to call it meat and package it in the same way as apples, donuts and canned beets.
I don't care if people eat meat, but let's at least be honest about where it comes from. In the past, people knew that what they were eating was their own chickens, cows, and pigs. Now it's all packaged and hidden as the mystery called "meat". Can't we at least be honest about it?
Meat is the product of butchered animals. Can we kill them as humanely as possible? Hiding the manner of how it happens is simply a cruel lie.
The kill rate has been as high as 97% in a given year, but the average is only about 85% kill rate.
the gigantic scale of animal slaughter
http://www.poodwaddle.com/clocks/food/
the unforgiveaÂÂbly inhumane
http://www.farmsanctuary.org/issues/factoryfarming/
.