Ag-gag

In Australia, several laws have been passed to strengthen existing laws for trespass, theft and vandalism — aimed at reducing animal rights vigilantism (according to livestock farmers) or gagging (according to activists).

Between 2015 and 2017, New South Wales passed several laws addressing trespass by "vegan vigilantes" at farms and slaughterhouses within bills about biosecurity. The Right to Farm Bill 2019[8] added criminal penalties for those who damage property, release livestock, or induce others to commit "aggravated unlawful entry".[9]

The Australian Government passed the Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultural Protection) Act 2019[10] which introduced further penalties for those who publish information on the internet with the intent of inciting other "green-collared criminals" to "unlawfully damage or destroy property, or commit theft, on agricultural land".[9] The 2019 legislation was in response to escalating animal rights activism incited through online posts and websites, leading to harassment and criminal behavior such as mass farm invasions, livestock theft and damage, often live-streamed online. In one incident a dairy farm was stormed by 100 activists and in another, cows were let loose in the road, a building was burned, and machinery damaged. In 2019, an animal rights group published a map on the internet revealing contact details and private information of farmers and slaughterhouses. A survey of pork farmers revealed 41% had suffered a raid by animal activists and 43% had had images posted online. The legislation was aimed at those "inciting others to commit unlawful trespass or other offenses in the homes and on the lands of our farmers."[11]

Bill 27, the Trespass Statutes (Protecting Law-Abiding Property Owners) Amendment Act, is a bill aimed at giving property owners more rights and imposes higher fines on those who trespass.[12] The bill, which had its first reading in November 2019, makes specific reference to "land used for the production of crops, the raising and maintenance of animals, and the keeping of bees."[13]

The Security From Trespass and Protecting Food Safety Act, 2019 was passed on June 18, 2020.[14] Introduced in December 2019 as Bill 156 by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, it was endorsed by the Ontario Federation of Agriculture and Union des Cultivateurs Franco-Ontariens.[15] In February 2020, a group of law professors in Canada sent a letter to the Attorney General of Ontario, expressing concern that aspects of the law would infringe on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[16] Proponents of the bill cited the need for increased protections from biosecurity risks, trespass, disruption of operations, theft and harassment.[17] The law prohibits unauthorized persons from trespassing on farm property and animal processing facilities, and prohibits protesters from interacting with livestock haulers. A person found guilty can be fined up to $15,000 for the first offence and $25,000 for subsequent offences.[18]

The day after the bill was passed, an animal rights activist was fatally mown down by a transporter outside the country's oldest pig slaughterhouse in Burlington, where an animal rights group had been stopping transporters outside the entrance and giving water to pigs in the trailers. The incident sparked protests against the bill by animal rights groups in Canada and abroad.[19][20][21]

Several states have passed ag-gag laws, many of which have been challenged in court.[22][23]

On March 23, 2017, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed Arkansas' "ag-gag bill" into law after District Judge James Moody threw out a lawsuit challenging it on grounds of constitutional violation.[24] The constitutionality of Arkansas' ag-gag law is currently being challenged by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Animal Equality, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Food Chain Workers Alliance, along with legal experts, scholars, and 23 media organizations who filed briefs in support. Legal professionals state that if the ruling is left standing, it "would drastically limit the ability of federal courts to protect rights guaranteed by the First Amendment."[25]

In February 2014, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed Idaho's "ag-gag" bill, the "Agricultural Security Act", into law, which imposed fines and jail time on activists who secretly film abuse on Idaho's commercial farms. It came about as the result of the animal rights organization Mercy for Animals releasing a video of animal abuse by workers on Bettencourt Dairy farms.[7]

On August 3, 2015, the Agricultural Security Act was struck down as unconstitutional by the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho as a violation of the First Amendment.[7][26] This decision was appealed to the Ninth Circuit, and parts of Idaho's law were struck down on First Amendment grounds in early 2018.[3]

Iowa has tried three times to pass an ag-gag law.[27] In March 2012, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad signed into law the first "ag-gag" law in America.[28] On January 9, 2019, Iowa's ag-gag law was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Southern District Court of Iowa.[29][30] In April 2019, another "ag-gag" law was signed, but on December 2, 2019, the U.S. Southern District Court of Iowa issued a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the statute.[31] In June 2020, a third "ag-gag" law was signed introducing a new crime called "food operation trespass," a type of aggravated misdemeanor.

After being the first state to pass ag-gag legislation in 1990, Kansas struck down their ag-gag laws in 2019 on the basis they violate First Amendment rights; making them the fourth state to do so. [32]

In 2020, in the case of PETA et al. v. Stein, Judge Schroeder struck four subsections of North Carolina's 2015 Property Protection Act, writing "the law is declared unconstitutional as applied to them in their exercise of speech." The plaintiffs included People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Center for Food Safety, Animal Legal Defense Fund, Farm Sanctuary, Food & Water Watch, Government Accountability Project, Farm Forward, and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.[33][34]

From 2012 to 2017, Utah had an ag-gag law criminalizing entering an animal facility and filming without consent. Amy Meyer, the director of the Utah Animal Rights Coalition, along with Animal Legal Defense Fund and PETA, brought a facial challenge to the law, and in 2017 a district court judge concluded that Utah Code § 76-6-112 was unconstitutional. Meyer had been arrested in 2013 under the law, but the case was later dismissed when it was determined she was on public property at the time she was filming.[35][36]