Don’t Punish Activists for Exposing Animal Abuse

Target: Joseph R. Biden, President of the Untied States

Goal: Stop persecution of activists and protesters for exposing wrongdoing.

Had it not been for the undercover work of brave and selfless activists, people across the U.S. would still be grossly unaware of many social issues affecting their own personal health and welfare, as well as the health and welfare of animals across the nation. And, yet, states across the U.S. are trying to silence these activists, stripping them of even their most basic rights to the freedom of speech.

Ag-gag laws are designed to censor the abuse of large corporations—most commonly relating to the food sanitation and animal welfare standards in the agricultural industry, but might also apply to other industries like fur farming or puppy mill breeding. Rather than punish the people inflicting harm upon innocent animals, ag-gag laws target activists, making it illegal to record footage inside a factory farm or to apply to a job on a farm in order to document the inner happenings of the facility. Instead of actually fixing the problems with their industries so that undercover investigations would have nothing to expose, agricultural—as well as other—facilities are determined that knowledge of their discretions never come to public light in the first place.

Ag-gag laws still remain in effect in six U.S. states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota. Sign this petition to demand ag-gag laws are banned on a federal level. People have a right to know where their food comes from.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Biden,

Undercover investigative work and startling exposes have been important in the history of the U.S. It was undercover activists who first revealed the unsanitary conditions of meat packing facilities and encouraged the protection of consumer health through the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act; undercover activists who first revealed the brutality of farms and slaughterhouses that house and kill the animals we eat leading to tighter animal welfare legislation; and undercover activists who continue to fight to expose the corruption behind popular practices of modern day.

Despite all the good that whistleblowing employees and activists have done for this country, in several states–including Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, and North Dakota–they, rather than the corporations they seek to better, can be scrutinized and punished under the law.

We are asking you, Mr. Biden, to please ban ag-gag laws on a federal level and allow activists to demonstrate their freedom of speech to promote important social causes.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Mercy For Animals MFA from Los Angeles, USA


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