Courtesy of Mercy for Animals The undercover investigation leading to a Richmond County farmworker’s felony animal cruelty arrest would likely have resulted in steep fines for the whistleblower if it had taken place after Jan. 1, when North Carolina’s ag-gag law takes effect. -

The whistleblower whose hidden-camera video appears to show a Richmond County farmworker stomping chickens and flinging one against a wall could face daily fines of $5,000 if Mercy for Animals’ undercover investigation had been postponed a couple months.

A misguided state law punishing those who publicly expose animal cruelty and unsafe working conditions is set to take effect on New Year’s Day. Lawmakers overrode Gov. Pat McCrory’s veto of the N.C. Property Protection Act June 3.

Supporters say the law is needed to shield businesses from corporate espionage, intellectual property theft and exploitation. As we’ve said in this space before, that rationale is disingenuous. Victims of such rare offenses already had ample recourse through the courts.

Dubbed the ag-gag law, the act effectively muzzles those who shine a light on wrongdoing by imposing stiff civil penalties for any employee who records audio and video without authorization and “uses the recording to breach the person’s duty of loyalty to the employer.”

The law permits judges to award exemplary damages of $5,000 “for each day, or portion thereof, that a defendant has acted in violation.”

Richmond County sheriff’s deputies arrested 22-year-old Danny Cajija Miranda on Tuesday, charging him with four felony counts and one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals. The charges were filed after Mercy for Animals turned over its recordings to the sheriff’s animal control investigator.

The Los Angeles-based animal rights group posted a video on its YouTube channel Wednesday featuring clips from the hidden-camera recordings. The video attacks Perdue Farms, the national poultry giant for which Deese Farms has served as a contract grower.

Perdue has suspended its contract with the Rockingham farm pending an internal investigation. Owner Tommy Deese told the Daily Journal he was not aware of the animal abuse and would have fired Miranda immediately if he had witnessed it.

As we reported in Friday’s edition, Miranda is being held on a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer and may not be in the United States legally.

Ultimately, Mercy for Animals’ investigation has served the public interest. It’s resulted in the removal and arrest of an employee accused of animal cruelty. It’s made Perdue Farms and its local supplier aware of the issue and created public pressure to ensure reforms are swiftly enacted. And its 2011 probe at a Butterball facility in Hoke County resulted in at least four cruelty convictions.

The facts may have never come to light if North Carolina’s ag-gag law was already in force.

McCrory was right to veto the bill. Legislators should have carefully weighed his concerns and sought a compromise to protect whistleblowers who uncover and expose abuses in the workplace.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant. When the ag-gag law goes into effect Jan. 1, North Carolina will be a darker place.

We call on Richmond County’s legislative delegation, Sen. Tom McInnis and Reps. Ken Goodman and Garland Pierce, to support a repeal of this shortsighted statute when the General Assembly reconvenes in April.

Courtesy of Mercy for Animals The undercover investigation leading to a Richmond County farmworker’s felony animal cruelty arrest would likely have resulted in steep fines for the whistleblower if it had taken place after Jan. 1, when North Carolina’s ag-gag law takes effect. https://www.yourdailyjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_2015.11-28DeeseFarmHideawayFarmPictures4-4.jpg Courtesy of Mercy for Animals The undercover investigation leading to a Richmond County farmworker’s felony animal cruelty arrest would likely have resulted in steep fines for the whistleblower if it had taken place after Jan. 1, when North Carolina’s ag-gag law takes effect.