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A bill currently in front of the House Agriculture Committee would make it illegal for a person to, among other things, produce images or sounds occuring at an animal facility without the owner’s consent. The bill is intended to keep people posing as employees from documenting the working conditions of an animal farming operation. Tim Van Roekel of the Marion County Cattlemen’s Association says he supports the measure. He says activists from organizations such as the Humane Society of the United States take everyday situations on the farm and warp it to look like negligence. House File 589, the Ag Protection Act, would make doing so an aggravated misdemeanor for a first offense and a class “D” felony if convicted twice. A similar bill is working its way through the Florida Legislature.

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