Minnesota bill wants to criminalize anyone caught going undercover to document animal abuses

If a new Minnesota bill eventually becomes law, anyone caught going undercover to document animal abuses at a factory farm could be sentenced to 5 years in jail. Here's what you need to know about the bill.

It's a Conflict of Interest

The bill was introduced by six Republicans, including Representative Rod Hamilton, the "past president of the Minnesota Pork Producers, and a current member," according to Will Potter, author of Green Is the New Red.

Potter says three components of the bill are especially dangerous to the rights of whistleblowers.

1.) The law would forbid "animal facility interference." Essentially, anyone who produces a recording of an image or sound occuring at an animal facility—or anyone caught possessing or distributing such content—could be charged with a gross misdemeanor. Presumably, that would include anyone who shared a video on YouTube.

2.) The law would prohibit "animal facility tampering," which means taking an animal from the facility. As Potter explains, "That, of course, is already a crime. But those [sic] provision also goes further, and includes 'disrupting' the operations of such a facility." Such vague language, Potter explains, opens opportunites for aggressive prosecutors to abuse the reach of the law to shut down whistleblowers—who would then be charged with a felony.

3.) The law explicitly targets whistleblowers who commit "animal facility fraud." Anyone who intentionally obtains a job at an animal facility with the intent to document abuses could be charged with a gross misdemeanor.

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Big AG is at it again. Monsanto lobbied for a very similar bill in Iowa.This is further proof the political funding in this country is fubar'd.

That's the craziest damn thing Ive seen today.

The gov has everybody running around tattling on all sorts of nonsense in the name of homeland security while trying to make calling out abuse and cruelty to living creatures illegal.

It's so absurd you have to laugh. Then you think that maybe laughing at the absurdity will get you tossed in prison and you have to cry.

reply to post by ViperChili


Just like our clown shoe wearing friends in DC, politicians do not even try to hide their blatant loathing for everyday people and rights anymore. The article clearly shows where that boys bread is buttered. Hypothetically speaking, it would be nice to see this boy hauled onto camera and ended like tomorrows BBQ donator. Seems like we need to separate business from government, instead we are fed the 'separate church from state' mantra repeatedly, as if its not pretty well in place and not a big cause for concern to many.

Politicians have to play smoke & mirror / dog & pony show distractions & feed us a constant stream of lies because they are dirty walking out of a shower. Separate business from government!

I cant say that Im surprised. And yet, we let child pedophiles off with a warning, and allow them to live in our communities, ( with children ) but we deem actions against animal cruelty an illegal act towards the whistleblowers. Its our food for petes sake...

The continued tampering with our food supply, and companies like Monsanto getting away with murder, is baffling.