Protect The Harvest | Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Animal Extremists; Softens Laws Protecting Farmers

In February 2023, a federal appeals court scaled back a lower-court ruling that threw out portions of a North Carolina law (the Property Protection Act or House Bill 405) designed, in part, to prevent undercover animal rights operatives masquerading as employees at farms and other workplaces from stealing documents or recording video Associated Press reported. Challenges of this law, and others like it, come from groups including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), which laud this ruling as a victory.

Although so-called “ag-gag” laws were established to protect property and animals on farms, ranches, animal testing facilities, and other establishments from deceitful trespassing, engaging in illicit undercover video and audio recording, mainstream news media working in concert with animal extremists have vilified these measures.

The need for farm protections

The term “ag-gag” worked its way into our common vocabulary around 2011, when it was featured in a New York Times column. The term is used to refer to any state law that forbids or restrains undercover extremist activities. These laws are often demonized by the mainstream media. Similar laws have been enacted to protect other industries and businesses against domestic terrorists. Mainstream media largely sympathizes with animal extremists’ vegan-driven agenda to end animal protein as food and animal ownership for any reason.