Do we really know how our food is produced, specifically food sourced from animals, including fish, fowl, pigs, and cattle, among others? Few of us do. We go to the grocery store, head to the refrigerated section, and pick up a plastic wrapped package without having a thought about the lives given up for our breakfast sausage or the steak on our dinner plate.
If some state legislators persist in their desire to keep hidden from view what occurs in factory farms and at slaughterhouses, we will never know. Legislation, referred to as “ag-gag” laws, would make it illegal to document unlawful, inhumane, and environmentally destructive practices on factory farms.
Several states, including Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, and New York, introduced legislation last year and some are introducing legislation this year trying to prevent undercover investigations at factory farms and slaughterhouses, by making the taking of pictures, videos, and sound recordings at these establishments illegal without approval of the owner. These laws appear intent on stifling independent investigation into animal handling practices at these establishments. How will we know what goes on with farmed animals if no outsider is allowed to photograph what is happening, as it happens? Will the owners of big agra tell us? Hardly. Will employees agree to be interviewed for the 6 o’clock news to tell of the horrors they have witnessed, or taken part in? Doubtful.
What many of the recent undercover investigations have shown is there is much animal abuse going on at the farm. While many of us find factory farming and animal slaughter to be abusive in and of itself, there have been documented practices that go beyond what are considered institutionally acceptable practices in the farmed animal community. Yet, without these undercover investigations, business will go on as usual and some of the people entrusted with the care of these animals will continue to abuse them.
There are people who want us to know what is happening to the billions of animals raised for human consumption and are willing to go undercover to document what others don’t want us to know. And now there are people who want to silence them through legislation. The attempt to enact these laws is telling of the industry’s fear the truth will come out. If one is doing his or her job well, why would the person object to being shown doing his or her job well? If, however, the job is torturing animals, one can readily see why those individuals might not want to be seen on television or YouTube.
Whether you eat animals and animal products or not, you should know what goes on behind the scenes of industrial dairy farms, chicken factories, and other farmed animal enterprises. You should know how your food is produced. Once you know about the suffering, you can’t not know it. And once you know, you can make better choices for yourself, your family, and the animals. Going vegan is one sure way to help end suffering; but with so few vegans in the world and so many animals suffering to be the next chicken tender, we not only need to know, we need to share. Ag-gag laws deny us the ability to do either.
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