FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Filming or photographing farm animal operations without a farmer's consent would be criminalized under a bill sent to the Kentucky Senate.
The Senate Agriculture Committee attached the language to a House-passed bill on Tuesday.
Kentucky Farm Bureau executive Jeff Harper says the provisions are needed because Kentucky is becoming a target of animal rights activists who secretly film or photograph farm operations.
Paul Shapiro, a vice president with the Humane Society of the United States, says the state's meat industry is trying to silence whistleblowers seeking to expose animal cruelty or food safety violations.
He says the bill comes a month after Humane Society whistleblowers exposed animal abuse at a western Kentucky pig farm.
If the Senate passes the bill, it would return to the House.
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The legislation is House Bill 222.
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