Ag-gag laws are beyond unacceptable. If public backlash weren’t enough to make it clear, none other than the former commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture has a few harsh words to add.





In a searing op-ed released this week, Jim Hightower slams efforts to “ban the recording of inhumane, immoral, and disgusting abuses of turkeys, hogs, and other animals by giant factory farm operators like Tyson .”





Ag-gag laws, passed in several states, make it illegal for whistleblowers to expose animal abuse on factory farms. These laws are specifically designed to sweep evidence of animal abuse under the rug and keep Americans in the dark about where their food comes from.





Investigations by Mercy For Animals have been essential in prosecuting animal abusers, pressuring the world’s largest food companies to make landmark animal welfare improvements, and educating millions about the horrors of today’s meat, dairy, and egg production.





Hightower, who served as commissioner for eight years, adds:

The only reason the public knows about chickens being stomped to death and pregnant sows being driven insane because they’re caged so tightly they can’t even turn around is that courageous whistleblowers have secretly recorded videos of the intolerable violence inside these animal concentration camps.

It’s time for the meat industry to stop this shameful attempt to hide its cruel practices from the public.



