Reporting Abuse Is Everybody's Fight

I was talking to a friend today about HSUS and the Animal Abuse Reporting bill in Tennessee and she said that she felt helpless and hopeless. Afterall, HSUS is spending at least $100,000 on ads in the state. They have their pet celebrities asking people all over the country to contact the governor. Even my friend's first-term state legislator is now cheering on a veto for the bill -- and she seemed like someone unaffiliated with HSUS previously. And, lo and behold, the USDA even makes the most conveniently-timed arrest of a Tennessee Walking Horse trainer that just happens to garner more publicity for HSUS, though it has nothing to do with the bill in question.

Yeah, that's all true. HSUS is a monster. And like most monsters, it's not easy to fight. But I think a lot of people are fed up. Fed up with an anti-agriculture organization that has no real love for animals trying to dictate to farmers and other animal people how they should raise and handle animals. Fed up with a wealthy, out-of-state special interest group fighting against a bill that we need in Tennessee to help stop animal abuse as soon as it's discovered.

This bill is very simple: Do you want to report animal abuse NOW, as soon as it's discovered? Or, do you want animals to go on suffering for weeks or months? Because if you want animals to go on suffering in an abusive situation, there could be cases where some animals die. It's that simple. That is what HSUS is advocating for their own purposes -- publicity, fundraising, "gotcha" moments. If you really care about animals then you MUST want the abuse to stop. You MUST demand that the abuse be reported as soon as possible. That's what this bill does. It requires someone working undercover to report the abuse and turn over copies of their photos or video within 48 hours to authorities SO THE ABUSE CAN STOP. People who really care about animals want the governor to SIGN THIS BILL.

I don't think it's hopeless. I don't know what the governor will do but he's certainly taking his time. Other states have beaten HSUS. Six states have passed similar laws. That first-term legislator who wants to veto this bill can be kicked out or she can learn more about HSUS so she knows what they're really like. HSUS claims they have 160,000 supporters in Tennessee but they barely have 800 fans on Facebook. I have nearly that many Facebook friends myself. Everything HSUS does is built on lies. We can beat them -- the collective "we" in this country. It will just take time. One bill, one case at a time.

Somebody replied to me the other day and said they had called the governor. They said, "This isn't Tennessee's fight. It's everybody's fight." I thought that was cool.

Please call or e-mail Governor Haslam and ask him to SIGN TN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Abuse Reporting bill!  (615) 741-2001; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov  It only takes a minute of your day.
 

The Ugly Side of HSUS

Things start to get ugly when the Humane Society of the United States doesn't get its way. The organization, which had net assets of nearly $200 million in 2010, is in the process of trying to browbeat Tennessee and its governor into vetoing a piece of legislation that was passed by the state's legislature. That legislation -- the Animal Abuse Reporting bill, HB 1191/SB 1248 -- is not a complicated bill. It says if you see animal abuse related to livestock and you record it, you're supposed to turn copies over to law enforcement within 48 hours. If you don't, it's a misdemeanor and punishable by up to a $500 fine.

I don't think that's hard to understand. Nor is the desire to stop animal abuse as quickly as possible whenever someone encounters it. But the Humane Society of the United States hates this bill and others like it in other states. They call it an "Ag-Gag" bill. They say that they need to go on investigating for weeks or longer when they find abuse in order to establish a "pattern of abuse." What that means, it seems to me, is that they care more about trying to punish as many people as possible instead of trying to end the abuse quickly.

You may wonder what HSUS does with those assets since they take in about $150 million each year in total revenue and they spend less than 1 percent on helping animals in shelters. Well, they lobby legislators. Along with a full-time lobbyist in Nashville (they call her their "state director"), they hired a lobbying firm to help try to stop this bill, so they had about five more lobbyists than usual working for them this year. They also hired Eric Swafford, who has been associated with Tennessee Walking Horses. He's a former state representative and he was supposed to somehow encourage the Walking Horse people to oppose this bill. He was also cited for having a sored horse at a show last year. So, a lot of HSUS money is spent on lobbying.

They're also spending $100,000, at least, to run ads in Tennessee against this bill, trying to get people to ask the governor to veto HB 1191/SB 1248. That's a lot of money from an out-of-state special interest group. But they really, really hate this bill. And Wayne Pacelle really likes to get his way. Even when he has to spend a lot of money and push some poor, dumb farmers around. Because they think we're all dumb in Tennessee and they think farmers are dumb just because they're farmers. Afterall, they eat meat, don't they? And everybody knows (if you work for HSUS) that meat-eaters are dumb.

In fact, Wayne Pacelle hates this bill so much that he even went on the Ellen show this week and asked a national television audience to contact Governor Haslam and tell him to veto the bill.

Of course, I'm just another hick in the sticks in Tennessee so it's great that we have this national organization, led by whiney Wayne, to tell us all what to think and how to do things. How on earth would farmers ever get by without HSUS advising them? Afterall, HSUS has so much practical, hands-on experience with animals, right? Don't they?

Somehow I doubt that Wayne has ever gotten much manure on his pleather shoes or spent much quality time with cows. Not the man who said, "One generation and out. We have no problems with the extinction of domestic animals. They are creations of human selective breeding.” Yet, as a vegan, he feels it is his right, even his duty, to tell the rest of us how to raise and handle farm animals. Well, I guess when you have $200 million in the bank from gullible people you can do a lot of things. I just wish he would stop doing them in Tennessee.

Please contact Gov. Haslam TODAY and ask him to SIGN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Abuse Reporting bill.  (615) 741-2001 ; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov Our legislators carefully considered this bill and we need it in Tennessee. Please don't let an outside group dictate what happens here. We want abuse to be reported quickly and recorded evidence turned over in a timely manner. Don't let livestock abuse continue when someone finds it so they can go on filming for their own purposes. Report it quickly and turn over the evidence! Sign the bill!

Tennessee Lawmakers Explain HB 1191/SB 1248, The Animal Abuse Reporting Bill

Watch this video from Tennessee Farm Bureau to understand what Tennessee lawmakers were thinking when they passed the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill that requires someone to report abuse within 48 hours and turn over unedited film footage to authorities.

Animal Cruelty and Abuse HB1191/SB1248

 

This bill passed the 108th Tennessee General Assembly and requires a person who records cruelty to animals as committed against livestock to report such violation and submit any unedited photographs or video to law enforcement

Contact Gov. Haslam and ask him to SIGN the Animal Abuse Reporting bill TODAY: (615) 741-2001; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov 

The Need To Report Abuse

Please contact Gov. Haslam and ask him to SIGN TN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Abuse Reporting bill: (615) 741-2001; e-mail bill.haslam@tn.gov

I was checking last night to see if Governor Haslam had made a decision about TN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill that requires photo and video evidence of cruelty to be turned over to law enforcement within 48 hours. I couldn't get the Tennessean site to open so I tried their Twitter feed and the first story I saw was the following:

3 Robertson County school employees indicted
Apr. 23, 2013 9:40 PM | 0 Comments

Written by
Eric Miller
Robertson County Times

Three Robertson County Schools employees have been indicted by the Robertson County Grand Jury for “alleged failures regarding reporting practices to law enforcement officials and the Department of Children’s Services,” according to a release issued by Robertson County Schools on Tuesday night...

Yes, that's a little vague. I had to look the case up elsewhere. They're being charged with failure to report known or suspected child sexual abuse. So, school employees -- not just family members or other people who have a close connection with children -- can be charged with failure to report abuse in Tennessee, even suspected abuse, and everyone is okay with that. But, if we want to require someone working undercover on a farm to report animal abuse and turn over their film evidence within 48 hours, we're infringing on their First Amendment rights?

You know, nobody is stopping anyone from reporting or investigating farms. No one is preventing anyone from telling the media exactly what they find in their undercover investigations. TN HB 1191/SB 1248 just makes it a crime not to report animal abuse within 48 hours when someone finds it. That's very much like the law to report child abuse to authorities.

There's no cover-up of abuse or anything that happens on a farm. In fact, turning over photos or video to law enforcement gets the authorities involved much sooner. The film evidence can be used in court -- and the media can cover the case.

This law has been called an "anti-whistleblower" law but that's not true either. Whistleblowers are free to report anything they see and they're protected. They just have a duty to report abuse within 48 hours and this applies to someone working undercover, too.

As much as animal rights activists claim that animal abuse is being ignored by authorities, it's important to remember that they have their own agenda. They are not law enforcement and they are not unbiased when they go undercover on farms. If they actually find animal abuse on a farm, then the decision about how to proceed shouldn't be left up to them. Evidence needs to be turned over to lawful authorities so a legal investigation can take place.

What really matters is that we stop animal cruelty as quickly as possible whenever it is found -- not that someone takes weeks or months to look for a "pattern of abuse" while innocent animals suffer. TN HB 1191/SB 1248 requires people to turn their evidence over within 48 hours so law enforcement can act. There is no need to let an animal continue to be abused so an animal rights group looks for more sensational film footage so they can raise more money. Stop the abuse as quickly as possible. If you care about animals that's what you should want and that's what this bill does.

We require people to report abuse when it involves children in Tennessee. Now let's require them to report cruelty and abuse of farm animals quickly.

Teddy Roosevelt Would Not Approve of These Muckrakers

Jack McElroy, at Knoxnews.com, writes an interesting and well-intentioned editorial about the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill, or the Ag-Gag bill as it's sometimes called -- TN HB 1191/SB 1248. The bill that's currently sitting on Governor Bill Haslam's desk awaiting his signature.

In McElroy's article, "Bill sneers at the First Amendment," he compares the animal rights brigade of today to the muckrakers of the past who went undercover in unsavory businesses and brought to light some of the ills of society in order to end evil practices. McElroy describes how these muckrakers were praised by Teddy Roosevelt. Then he goes on to cast aspersions on the Tennessee General Assembly for passing HB 1191/1248.

According to McElroy the bill "sneers at the First Amendment" -- which guarantees our freedom of speech, and flies in the face of the Tennessee Shield Law -- the law that protects reporters from having to turn over to authorities their sources or unpublished material except in extraordinary circumstances. He believes this law should apply to your run of the mill animal rights person who lies to get a job on a farm because anyone can call himself a journalist these days.

I think there are some problems with Mr. McElroy's analogy. Whether or not the people who lie to get jobs on farms have good intentions and want to see animal cruelty ended is up for debate, as far as I'm concerned. Animal rights activists are often uninformed about farm life. They don't always understand what they're seeing on a farm and when they film something they can present it in a way that makes it look cruel even when it's an accepted, even traditional farming practice -- like disbudding the horns from calves or notching the ears on young pigs. You can film lots of animals squealing and crying to make people think the animals are being mistreated but what's being done is for their own good. (Kind of like the way kids at a doctor's office cry.) But show that film to people who live in Nashville or Knoxville -- people who have not been on a farm in a couple of generations -- and they're going to think that farmers are cruel.

The Humane Society of the United States knows this. They don't care. They count on it, as do Mercy for Animals and other groups which have specialized in putting people on farms and filming undercover. Do you really want to know why it takes these groups so long to turn over their video to authorities? It's because the footage has to be carefully edited and doctored to make things look as bad as possible.

Do you really think they film for six weeks or longer because they want to stop animal cruelty? No. They do it because they need plenty of film so they can splice things together. They might have to film for weeks before they even find something that looks questionable. (Put a camera in your home for six weeks and I bet someone could make a film that would make you look bad, too.) Their purpose isn't about stopping animal cruelty. These groups are opposed to animal agriculture in all forms and want to put farms out of business, while raising as much money for their own organizations as possible.

HB 1191/1248 does not prevent these groups from filming. What it does is require them to turn over their photos or film every 48 hours to law enforcement. This reduces the amount of time they would have to edit and play with the evidence for their own purposes. I don't think these AR infiltrators fall under the Tennessee Shield Law because they aren't necessarily journalists. Not everyone who posts something on the Internet is a journalist, despite what Mr. McElroy seems to think.

This law would reduce the likelihood that the film you see from a farm in Tennessee is faked. Is that interfering with the First Amendment? Well, it does cut down on their First Amendment right to lie, I suppose. I guess lying is protected speech under certain circumstances. But there are already some limits on free speech. You can't yell, "Fire" in a crowded theatre, for instance, and cause a panic for no reason. I think in this case the public good has to be weighed. It's not in the public good for animal rights zealots to edit together video taken over weeks or months to lie about our food supply or how animals are treated. Sure, go ahead and film. Show the truth and turn over the photos and video every 48 hours. But stop the fake editing. This gets law enforcement involved at an early stage and we can stop animal abuse as quickly as possible. If there's a food safety issue, we can address it.

I think it's a stretch to say that the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill infringes on the First Amendment. This law is really about the timely reporting of any animal abuse and that should be something we all want. But even if it does touch upon the First Amendment, in this case I think the public good requires that this bill become law for the simple fact that HSUS and other animal rights groups have been playing fast and loose with the video they've been taking on farms. Farms and farmers need some protection from over-zealous animal rights agents who lie to get jobs on the farm and then put together film in such a way to make farm practices look bad. HSUS has been exploiting this situation to raise lots of money and that's not good for any of us who love animals. Why else do you think HSUS is fighting so hard to get the governor to veto the bill? It will affect their cash flow. If more states start passing these laws, it means HSUS won't be able to attack farmers so freely.

Similar laws have already been passed in six states: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota and Utah. In some of these states the laws go much farther than with the Tennessee bill, prohibiting someone from lying about their reason for getting a farm job, for instance.

Animal rights activists are not the kind of muckrakers that Teddy Roosevelt would have approved. It's a nice idea, but if you're going to rake muck, you're supposed to tell the truth and that's something animal rights activists don't do with faked videos.

Please contact Governor Haslam today and ask him to SIGN the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill (HB 1191/1248). E-mail him at
bill.haslam@tn.gov ; and call him at (615) 741-2001. Be sure you ask him to SIGN the bill!

Governor Haslam Needs To Hear From YOU!

Please call and e-mail Governor Haslam TODAY to ask him to SIGN TN HB 1191/SB 1248, the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill that would require people to turn over film evidence of abuse within 48 hours.

HSUS, ASPCA, PETA, Mercy for Animals and other groups are all calling and asking the governor to veto this bill. Please contact the governor and ask him to SIGN it!

TAKE ACTION!

Use the NAIA capwiz. Just type in your name and address to send. It only takes a minute.

Call Governor Haslam and respectfully ask him to sign this bill. Here is the phone number for his Chief of Staff, Mark Cate:   1-615-585-0873 

Urge Governor Haslam to sign this bill into law today!


Legislative notebook: Singer urges Haslam veto on livestock abuse bill

    • By Tom Humphrey
    • Posted April 18, 2013 at 7:44 p.m.

Humphrey on the Hill

Tom Humphrey's blog on politics and legislative news in Tennessee

NASHVILLE — Country music singer Carrie Underwood is “begging” Gov. Bill Haslam to veto a bill requiring pictures or video of livestock abuse to be turned over the law enforcement authorities.

The bill (SB1248) was given final legislative approval by the House on a 50-43 vote Wednesday night, two days after it passed the Senate 22-9. That sends it to Haslam’s desk, though the formal transmittal process typically takes a day or two.

On Thursday, Underwood tweeted Haslam, with fans copied in:

“Please don’t sign the Ag Gag bill. Think about the welfare of the animals as well as the consumers. I’m begging you.”

Another Underwood tweet to fans: “Shame on TN lawmakers for passing the Ag Gag bill. If Gov. Bill Haslam signs this, he needs to expect me at his front door. Who’s with me?”

David Smith, spokesman for Haslam, said the governor did not respond to Underwood’s tweet. His office has received “a couple hundred emails and calls throughout the day” on the bill, Smith said.


(more)

HSUS "Undercover" Investigations -- Not So Good for Animals or People

HSUS has been doing a lot of raving about how HB 1191/SB 1248 would keep them from conducting undercover investigations in Tennessee. (It wouldn't.) You might think that HSUS has been conducting some incredible journalism and we should all be grateful to them, right? Well, not if you're a downer cow.

In a 2008 case in California, the HSUS inserted someone into a slaughterhouse for an investigation of "downer cows" -- cows that are "non-ambulatory" -- unable to walk. These cows have a higher risk of having mad cow disease so if they are being used for food there is a slight risk to public safety.

According to the New York Times:

Consider again the time frame: the Humane Society investigator began shooting film in early October. If what he saw was really a danger to the food supply, didn’t he and Mr. Pacelle have a responsibility to bring it to the federal government immediately? Instead, the undercover investigator stayed on site for another six weeks. Even then, the federal government didn’t learn of the video until it was leaked to The Post at the end of January — nearly two months later.
Mr. Pacelle claims that the San Bernadino district attorney’s office — to which he gave the tapes in late November, so that it could prosecute the abuse — asked him not to show the video to the U.S.D.A. until it had completed its investigation. But I read several news articles quoting San Bernadino officials contradicting that account...And even if that were true, why did he release the video to The Washington Post — well in advance of the completion of the district attorney’s investigation? Well, you know the answer to that one: he just couldn’t stand the thought of one more day passing without making a big splash.

Well, you do the math. Mr. Pacelle and HSUS do these undercover investigations -- and go on filming for weeks -- not because they care about animals but because they want to get as much media attention as possible. Because media attention translates into dollars for them. What does the suffering of a few cows matter when compared to filling the bank accounts of the Humane Society of the United States? So what if there's a remote possibility that someone in the U.S. could develop mad cow disease? That would just mean more money for HSUS because they would have more ways to attack the cattle industry.

Does anyone really believe it took six weeks of filming for someone to get enough video evidence in this case, and that animals had to continue to suffer all this time? Well, sometimes you have to film a lot of footage when you plan to edit it a certain way. The plant was closed down once the federal authorities finally got involved, but that was only after Pacelle and HSUS had been milking the case for media attention.

In this case the USDA forced the company to recall 143 million pounds of meat -- the largest beef recall in U.S. history. But because it took so long for HSUS to turn over their video and inform the government about the problems at the plant, most of that meat had already been eaten by the time the recall was issued. So, if there had been something wrong with the meat, the recall wouldn't have done any good.

This is not how we want undercover investigations to be conducted in Tennessee but this is how HSUS conducts their investigations and why they want Gov. Haslam to veto HB 1191/SB 1248. They sit on evidence for weeks and months while abuse continues, even when it threatens public safety. The Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill would require someone to turn over photos or video of abuse of livestock in an investigation within 48 hours to law enforcement authorities.

Please contact Gov. Haslam NOW and ask him to sign this Livestock Cruelty and Abuse Bill into law!  (615) 741-2001  or email him: bill.haslam@tn.gov

Contact Governor Haslam TODAY!

This message is from NAIA, the National Animal Interest Alliance. It's great of them to get involved. This should be the Take Action link for the capwiz: 

TAKE ACTION



You just have to put in your information to send the letter to the governor. It only takes a minute. Please contact the governor. HSUS is still trying to defeat this bill by having him veto it.

Please Call Governor Haslam's Office!        
 
Please call Govenor Haslam! Ask him to sign HB1191.         

TAKE ACTION!



This Animal Cruelty and Abuse Bill protects animal owners.

HB 1191 the Animal Cruelty and Abuse bill is now on Governor Haslam's desk awaiting his signature. Please contact the Governor's office and urge him to sign this bill which provides protection to responsible farmers, ranchers and other livestock producers.

The bill amends TCA Title 39 and Title 44. The bill requires a person who records cruelty to animals as committed against livestock to report such violation and submit any unedited photographs or video recordings to law enforcement authorities within 24 hours of the photographs or video recording creation.

Please call the Governor's Office to urge him to sign this important bill.
 
Here is the phone number for his Chief of Staff, Mark Cate:  1-615-585-0873 

Please also click on the Take Action button on the upper right which links to an email address for the Governor and send him a respectful message urging him to sign this important bill.

Protect Your Animals! Join NAIA Trust today. 

TN House Approves Animal Abuse Reporting Bill; Goes To Governor

House barely approves animal abuse reporting bill

Associated Press

Originally published 08:32 p.m., April 17, 2013
Updated 09:04 p.m., April 17, 2013

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A bill seeking to require anyone recording or taking photos of livestock abuse to turn images over to law enforcement within 48 hours was approved in the House on Wednesday with the bare vote minimum needed.
The chamber voted 50-43 to approve the measure sponsored by Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, after defeating several proposed amendments and an extensive debate that at times featured lawmakers making animal noises.
Bills must gain at least 50 votes in the 99-member chamber to pass. The measure now heads to Gov. Bill Haslam, who said earlier this week that he didn't know enough about the measure to say whether he would sign it into law.
Animal protection activists like the Humane Society of the United States have said the bill would have a chilling effect on whistleblowers and prevent undercover operations from establishing a pattern of abuse.
In 2011, the Humane Society secretly filmed video inside a Tennessee Walking Horse stable showing trainers applying caustic substances to the horses' legs and beating them to make them stand.
Trainer Jackie McConnell, whose stable was in Senate sponsor Dolores Gresham's West Tennessee district, pleaded guilty in federal court in September.
The Senate version passed 22-9 on Tuesday.
Rep. Vance Dennis, R-Savannah, objected to the bill during the Wednesday debate, calling it unenforceable and "Orwellian."
"If you walk down the street and see someone commit a murder and you don't report it, that's not a crime," he said, "but under your bill, if you see and record animal abuse and don't report it, that is a crime."
Among the failed amendments proposed on Wednesday was one that would have broadened it to require anyone observing animal abuse to report it and not limiting the reporting requirements to a person intentionally recording or photographing the abuse.
Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, tried to amend the bill to specify that news reporters would be protected from prosecution.
"We don't punish the people who gather the information on the crime, we punish the people who commit the crime," Lynn said.

This Is The HSUS "Outreach Director"?

The Humane Society of the United States recently hired former State Representative Eric Swafford (R-Pikeville) as their "outreach director" to the Tennessee Walking Horse community -- after vilifying that industry for years. Specifically they wanted Swafford to reach out to the Walking Horse people and try to persuade them not to pursue legislation to make undercover investigations more difficult to conduct, according to Knoxnews.com.

Last year HSUS released secretly recorded video showing caustic substances being applied to horses' legs and hooves ("soring") and the animals being beaten to make them stand, but only after sitting on the video for months while the animals continued to suffer.

A bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Dolores Gresham of Somerville and Rep. Andy Holt would require any video of livestock abuse be submitted to prosecutors within a short period of time. This would prevent the video from being edited or tampered with -- or used for fundraising purposes. It would allow the authorities to act quickly to stop the abuse.

Swafford was described as "an award-winning member of the Tennessee Walking Horse Owners Association." What the news story didn't say was that he had been cited himself by the USDA for having a sored horse at a show in August 2012.

Eric Swafford showed a horse, "Jazzy Sally", at the 2012 106th Anniversary Wartrace Horse Show, Wartrace, TN which was found sore.

Really? This is the person HSUS hires to represent them after they complain about the lack of enforcement of the Horse Protection Act and try to destroy the Tennessee Walking Horse industry in Tennessee? You have to wonder if they knew about Swafford's violation for soring or if it mattered to them as they try to fight this much-needed bill in Tennessee.

Sure, there could be all kinds of extenuating circumstances with regard to this violation and we know that USDA has handed out unfair violations to Walking Horse people in the past. You just have to look to the Celebration in Shelbyville last year to see how things were going with USDA. What matters here is the astonishing hypocrisy of HSUS in hiring someone as their "outreach director" who has been cited for soring when they never miss an opportunity to condemn the entire Walking Horse industry. But I guess violations don't matter if the person works for HSUS.

Sen. Gresham's bill has passed in the Tennessee Senate and it's scheduled to be heard in the Tennessee House this week. Here's hoping that the House will also pass it, without any weakening amendments. Rep. Swafford should know, as well as anyone, that we don't need vigilantes conducting undercover investigations while abuse continues. If someone films or photographs animal abuse during an investigation, they need to turn the material over to the authorities right away so they can investigate and stop the abuse.

What Your $19 Per Month Buys In Nashville

Ever wonder how the Humane Society of the United States (not to be confused with your local shelter) gets those animal bills to pass in your state? Or what they really do with that $19 per month you donate to them? Have a look at how they spend the money in Tennessee.

According to the Tennessee Ethics Commission the Humane Society of the United States currently has FIVE, count 'em 5, lobbyists in Nashville. And their buddies the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) also has five. They even share a couple of lobbyists. How cozy.

Here's a look at them.

HSUS lobbyists:
Leighann McCollum
David McMahan
Anna Richardson
Caroline Straight
Beth Winstead       

ASPCA lobbyists:
David McMahan
Anna Richardson
Sherry Rout
Caroline Straight
Beth Winstead

You can also add Eric Swafford to this list for HSUS. He is a former state representative who was hired as an "outreach director" to work on the Tennessee Walking Horse people.

As far as we know, HSUS and ASPCA usually have one lobbyist each in the state. The halls in the legislature in Nashville must be so thick with animal rights lobbyists right now that they're falling over each other.

We also note that David McMahan's wife is the staff contact for the Chairman of the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Subcommittee, Rep. Lollar, which puts them in a juicy position, doesn't it?

Still think HSUS doesn't lobby or get its hands dirty with politics?

Your state probably has an ethics commission or something similar where lobbyists are required to register. Check and see how many lobbyists HSUS and ASPCA have in your state. If your representatives aren't listening to you maybe it's because they're listening to the lobbyists.

Tennessee Legislative Update

2013 has been a good session for animals and their owners in Tennessee so far. Here's an update on where we stand with a short time left in this session.

HB 0132 by Lundberg / SB 0285 by Ketron)
 Criminal Offenses - As introduced, enacts the "Animal Fighting Enforcement Act," increasing penalties for certain offenses involving animal fighting.  A second or subsequent cockfighting offense will be a Class E felony.  Also increases penalty for being a spectator at any type of animal fight to a Class A misdemeanor.

This bill has failed once again this year with some strong arguments from Sen. Frank Niceley. Sen. Niceley was quoted as saying, "This bill isn't about chickens, it's not about cockfights. It's about killing animal agriculture in America." Exactly. Niceley also said, “HSUS spent $50,000 trying to defeat me in the last election.” Senator Niceley was formerly the chairman of the House Agriculture committee and has been opposed to animal rights legislation in the past. He's definitely on the HSUS hit list.

Although this bill is pushed as something that would stop cockfighting, opponents of the bill say it would affect farmers who raise chickens for show. Many people feel that the penalties in the bill are too harsh.

HB 1260 by Durham / SB 1359 by Johnson) a.k.a. "Walter's Bill" ****Deferred to Summer Study**** 
Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As introduced, specifies conditions upon which tethering a dog may be cruelty to animals.

We have no idea who "Walter" is. This is a stupid bill, not to put too fine a point on it. Tennessee's animal cruelty laws already include tethering if a dog is suffering any kind of bodily harm (§ 39-14-202. Cruelty to animals (a) (5)(b) "A person commits an offense who knowingly ties, tethers, or restrains a dog in a manner that results in the dog suffering bodily injury as defined in § 39-11-106."). Every hunter in the state opposes this bill, along with farmers who have dogs. If you train a dog for hunting using a "chain gang" then you have placed your dog on a short tether and you know that this proposed law is unworkable. Farmers don't like it because there are times when they need to tether a dog to keep them from chasing livestock; and because they do not like to give animal control any reason to come snooping around their farms where they are trying to operate a business.

Tethering a dog responsibly for training or other reasons is not cruel and this is just another backdoor attempt to restrict people from using tethering as a confinement method. The bill did not have enough support and has been deferred for summer study. We have been advised that hunters, farmers, and dog owners will be welcome to attend these summer study sessions so they can explain why this bill is not needed.

HB 0462 by Lamberth / SB 0581 by Haile)
 Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As introduced, provides for the placement of abused animals with any governmental animal control agency, law enforcement agency, or their designee and deletes provision allowing for the suspension of required security bonds for indigent persons charged with offenses against animals.

I'm very sorry to say that this misguided forfeiture bill passed. Although we believe the sponsor was well-intentioned, the bill does not actually help animals and it will make it easier for dog owners to lose their animals. It probably won't make a lot of difference as to who can take control of animals if they are seized, since, in practice, rescues and shelters already do so, but it will shorten the time an owner has to come up with security from 15 days to 10 days. This is still longer than people have in many states but we would have preferred to continue to allow Tennesseans to have 15 days to come up with the money/bond/security necessary to pay for the care of their animals if they are seized. The new law also does away with exemptions for the indigent or those who cannot pay to get their animals back -- and that's more people than you might think considering how fast costs add up once animals are taken. We believe that the Louisville Kennel Club's case against the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government might apply to this law in some particulars.

HB 1191 by Holt / SB 1248 by Gresham)
 Animal Cruelty and Abuse - As introduced, requires a person who records cruelty to animals as committed against livestock to report such violation and submit any unedited photographs or video recordings to law enforcement authorities within 24 hours of the photograph's or recording's creation.

We absolutely LOVE this bill! Yes, this is one of the celebrated "Ag Gag" bills you've been hearing about. They've been introduced in about 12 states this year and have already been passed in a few. These bills have been winding their way through the Tennessee legislature this session and HSUS is so worried about it that they actually hired another lobbyist just to lobby against this bill. They hired former state representative Eric Swafford, someone connected with the Tennessee Walking Horse industry, to lobby against this bill and try to get the Walking Horse people on his side. But the bill affects a lot more than Walking Horses. It affects every farmer, every kind of agriculture, everyone who breeds dogs or any kind of animal.

The bill would require someone who takes undercover photos or video to turn them over to authorities in a timely manner instead of sitting on them for weeks or months -- as people and groups have done in the past. They have done this to edit and doctor evidence and to use them for fundraising purposes. Not only does this allow animals to continue to suffer unnecessarily (and it's withholding evidence), but it's deceptive, and in the case of food animals, it can place all of us at risk. If there is something going on at a farm that involves the food we eat then authorities need to know about it quickly so they can take action before someone gets sick.

Critics say that these bills would mean the end to their "undercover" investigating but that's not true. They can investigate -- they just have to turn over their photos and film as they go along. This prevents them from tampering with them and alerts the authorities to the situation. In the case of child abuse we don't let an outside group conduct an undercover investigation for weeks or months without alerting authorities while the children suffer. No! They have to report the abuse immediately. That's the same thing this law would require with animal abuse. If you love animals you should be in favor of this bill. I know I couldn't sit back and let animals suffer while I continued to photograph or film a situation for weeks.

HB 0621 by Gilmore / SB 0865 by Tate ***WITHDRAWN***
Animal Control - As introduced, requires owners of dangerous and vicious dogs to secure minimal liability insurance.

This bill began as a "vicious dog" bill and quickly got worse. It added an amendment to become a breed specific law against "pit bulls" or bully breeds. Thanks to a great article by Jim Matheny with WBIR.com, and strong negative reaction to the bill from dog lovers across Tennessee, this bill was withdrawn by the sponsor. We're not sure what prompted Representative Gilmore to propose the bill, however, other than the fact that Nashville, where she lives, has some problems with roaming dogs in some areas.

That just leaves one more bill we're watching this session:

SB 0796 by Beavers ( HB 0591 by Van Huss)

Search & Seizure - As introduced, enacts the "Freedom from Unwarranted Surveillance Act." - Amends TCA Title 29 and Title 39.

This is a bill that limits the use of drones in Tennessee. Not only is this an animal issue, with PETA already stating that they plan to use drones to "stalk" hunters, fishermen, and farmers, but it's a serious privacy issue, and we're glad to see the legislature placing reasonable limits on the use of drones. This technology has advanced rapidly and citizens have no protection from eyes in the sky. All kinds of groups support legislation to limit drone use inside the United States, from Tea Party groups to the ACLU. This bill looks poised to be passed any time now.

So, that's where we currently stand. The drone bill and the "Ag Gag" bill remain to be decided. By all means, contact your representative and senator and let them know you support these bills. Click here to find your Tennessee legislators.

Thank you!