Foe of meat industry charged under Iowa's new 'ag gag' law

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Omaha World Herald-AP

By RYAN J. FOLEY

IOWA CITY — An animal rights activist whose investigations and pranks have made him a leading foe of the livestock industry has been charged with trespassing at a pig farm.

It's the first case brought under Iowa’s latest law aimed at protecting farming operations from intruders.

Matthew Johnson, 35, is charged with trespassing at a food operation because of his presence Feb. 5 outside an Iowa Select Farms sow operation in Dows, 75 miles north of Des Moines.

Investigators say surveillance video captured Johnson approaching one of the buildings and trying to pull a door to determine if it was locked before running away. Iowa Select Farms, one of the nation’s largest pork producers, turned over the footage to the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, and Johnson was charged last month.



Matt Johnson, a leading foe of the livestock industry, has been charged with trespassing at a pig facility in Iowa, the first case brought under the state's latest so-called "ag-gag" law.

MATT JOHNSON


Read more: https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/foe-of-meat-industry-charged-under-iowas-new-ag-gag-law/article_ee1d50d8-98a4-11eb-8a3e-834de1931037.html

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Animal rights activists are angry about the new law. I do want animals treated humanely in the supply chain.

[mucifer]

1. Thank you for posting this.

[zipplewrath]

3. There is a better law to be written here

Something about "good trouble". There are reasons people shouldn't break into manufacturing facilities without knowing what they are doing. We had people break into our factory because they didn't like what was produced. It's not that I particularly disagreed with them, but the equipment and assets they destroyed/damaged often had nothing to do with what they objected. Worse, they opened some waste containers and dumped them on the ground that were filled with hazardous waste that was meant for processing to render them harmless. They damaged equipment for which the only purpose was to protect the workers. Some of the damage was less than obvious and could have resulted in severe injury to the workers.

Alternately, taking pictures and documenting conditions shouldn't be made illegal. Chicken farms and pig farms can be the stuff of horror and it shouldn't be illegal to expose them, just to protect a profitable industry. Industry should not be protected from reality.

[demmiblue]

4. Factory farms are basically torture chambers.

Fuck the ag-gag laws.

[Archae]

5. What was this guy intending to do?

Let all the hogs run loose, like animal rights groups do here in Wisconsin, to mink farms?

(And those minks let out, are environmental wildlife disasters, they usually end up starving to death or returning to the farms they were "liberated" from. Or they get hit by cars on roads.)

[Piasladic]

6. or maybe he was just trying to take a picture

From the Omaha State News,

https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/foe-of-meat-industry-charged-under-iowas-new-ag-gag-law/article_ee1d50d8-98a4-11eb-8a3e-834de1931037.html

"Johnson said Thursday that he was at the site filming videos for social media and trying to check on animals that 'are living lives of horrific suffering' but that he never went inside any building."

[Archae]

7. If they limited themselves to doing that...

It would be all right.

It's the ones who set animals free, vandalize equipment and buildings, and even go so far as to set barns and sheds afire.
Those are the ones who deserve to go to jail.

[Piasladic]

9. I agree

I didn't hear about barns being set on fire in this case, and by the way, the morons that set animals loose to die...well there is a place for them too.

[Piasladic]

10. and a little more about this...

I live in a somewhat rural area, so people from 'the city' think it is the great wilderness. They dump their animals thinking ... honestly I don't know what they think.

However, we always see abandoned, starved, or dead ex pets. I wish one of those MFs who think a domesticated animal can adapt would spend three months outside here without a food bowl.

[rpannier]

13. The sponsor of Ag-gag 2 and this one

State Sen. Ken Rozenboom, who sponsored Iowa’s second ag-gag bill in 2019, is a factory farm owner himself. This past January, activists with Direct Action Everywhere released disturbing photos from one of his facilities, which showed pigs with rectal prolapses and wounds, and the corpses of dead animals left among the living.

That;'s why the bill is there. And this guy was there to take pictures.
When the first one of these past, then Gov. Terry Branstad didn't even hide why he supported it... because people were videoing what was going on at these farms

[Kali]

8. trespassing is already against the law, how is that a so-called ag-gag law?

guy could bring disease onto property or who knows what.

[rpannier]

12. Because it is part of an effort by the state of Iowa to prevent video of treatment of animals from

getting out into the public

This bill has a special section:
The latest bill would create a new crime, “food operation trespass,” for anyone who enters a location without permission where a “food animal” is kept or where meat is sold or processed.

It makes trespass on these places a more serious offense (2 years and 6k+ fine. Which is significantly larger than a regular trespass offense)

State Sen. Ken Rozenboom, who sponsored Iowa’s second ag-gag bill in 2019, is a factory farm owner himself is the sponsor of this and the second attempt at passing the gag law.
This time he left out criminalizing filming the farms

Just so you know about the unpleasantness of this guy

State Sen. Ken Rozenboom, who sponsored Iowa’s second ag-gag bill in 2019, is a factory farm owner himself. This past January, activists with Direct Action Everywhere released disturbing photos from one of his facilities, which showed pigs with rectal prolapses and wounds, and the corpses of dead animals left among the living.

His defense was/is that he had leased out his farm to someone else and he had no idea this was going on. While he was pushing and defending the 2nd ag-gag bill

That is why this is referred to as ag-gag

for edit:
They're not concerned with this guy bringing who knows what... they're concerned with him cataloging and photographing what is going on at those farms

[Kali]

14. so an extra charge if the tresspass is on a food production facility

got it, yes that would put it in the ag gag category.

I realize why they don't want this clown on their properties, but there is a legit reason for restricting access to random people and frankly some of the activists go over the line with vandalism and other reckless behavior so I certainly understand not wanting them around even if you aren't doing anything wrong.

most producers are fine with giving tours or trying to be transparent about their operations. the bad actors on both sides all give their "causes" a bad reputation.

[Raine]

11. Factory farms are EVIL! nt

[myohmy2]

15. wow...

...maybe the guy was looking for a nearby restroom to use...

...you ever smell a pig farm?

...