Ag-gag and Animal Welfare: An Overview and Opposition

Abstract

Ag-gag is a new form of ag-gamma law that prohibits the taking of photographs and videos without permission on agricultural facilities. Despite a number of attempts to pass legislation banning the use of photos and videos in state legislatures across the country, many of these proposals have failed in the past two years. This paper provides a brief overview of the current state of the art of enacting such legislation, as well as a discussion of the arguments that opposing the bills have a clear and simple message and that animal welfare groups are joined in their opposition by groups from beyond the animal welfare community. In addition, this paper proposes that animal rights activists build broad coalitions with those concerned about First Amendment rights, food safety, workers' rights, and transparency in order to expose these bills to the public as whistleblower suppression legislation masquerading as animal protection bills.