PETITION TARGET: South Dakota Senate Judiciary
A mother cow cries after her baby is stolen, a piglet screams as he’s castrated without anesthesia, and a chicken too weak to stand lays defeated in her own filth — suffering like this may soon be kept in the dark if a new bill passes in South Dakota.
Senate Bill 14, if passed, would bolster laws that aim to keep animal advocates from rescuing sick or injured farmed animals and introduces penalties for filming at large-scale animal farming operations.
It would also allow the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources to withhold information from the public about factory farms, including their locations.
The individuals who are harmed, mutilated, and killed in these facilities deserve to have their stories told or be saved if they are ill or dying — and the public deserves to know what is happening behind closed doors at factory farms in their community.
Sign our petition urging the South Dakota Senate Judiciary to reject this bill that could make it more difficult for the public to advocate for the welfare of animals.