Bills Seek to Punish Undercover Investigators

Similar to pending legislation in Florida and Iowa, the Minnesota state legislature is currently considering two bills that would criminalize undercover investigations of animal cruelty.

The horrific animal abuse at Kathy Bauck’s “Pick of the Litter” puppy mill in Otter Tail County was documented by an employee shooting undercover video. Bauck was charged in 2008 with felony animal cruelty and torture and her USDA license was revoked. Even though this type of evidence is crucial to convicting criminals like Bauck, Chairs of MN House and Senate Ag Committees Representative Rod Hamilton (R, 22B) and Senator Doug Magnus (R, 22) and several other Minnesota state legislators have introduced two bills that will make it a crime to record undercover video at animal facilities including pet shops and commercial kennels.

If passed, House File 1369 and its companion bill Senate File 1118 will make recording, possessing, or distributing undercover footage taken at animal facilities a gross misdemeanor on first conviction and a felony on subsequent conviction.

These bills would protect businesses with cruel and illegal practices against peaceful undercover investigation of such activity. The proposals to criminalize such recordings are riders on bills against “animal facility interference”. But disturbing or damaging an animal facility is already illegal; it is called trespassing, theft, and property damage. State and federal laws already exist against these crimes.

These bills propose legislation that is not only unnecessary, but an attack on the public’s right to know what is going on at these businesses.

The undercover footage taken at Bauck’s facility shows animals starving and left to suffer with life-threatening injuries, as well as illegal practices such as applying toxic insecticides to dogs and performing surgery without a veterinary license. Bauck owned approximately 900-1,300 breeding dogs, so it is estimated that up to 2,000 animals were on Bauck’s property at any time. Her kennel passed USDA inspections while it was in operation, so without this undercover video, the abuse at Bauck’s kennel would have continued unabated.

These bills would also criminalize undercover investigations of food safety and labor violations:

Undercover recordings don’t just document animal abuse — they also document unsafe situations and illegal activity such as employee abuse, threats and terrorism, assault, sexual harassment, and a dangerous working environment. An employee at any workplace may need to make undercover recordings to safely expose violations. But according to H.F. 1369, employees at animal facilities who make undercover recordings have committed a crime. Not only is gathering such evidence illegal under this legislation, the evidence itself would not be admissible in court.

If this legislation passes, employees will lose a critical element of protection: the ability to gather physical evidence to blow the whistle.

It should be obvious that the only businesses that stand to be damaged by undercover video are those that have illegal activity to hide.

Peaceful undercover investigations are necessary in the absence of effective regulations and are part of our Constitutional right to a free press. It is revealing – and highly incriminating– that certain animal industries want to keep their practices hidden from the public.  A good business should be able to stand up to the light of day.

Meanwhile, H.F. 388 has been stalled even though a majority of Minnesotans seem to want these regulations to pass. H.F. 388 would help eliminate some of the abuse at “puppy mills” and enact reasonable standards of care for pets in commercial breeding facilities like Bauck’s. Moreover, according to Minnesota’s own fiscal note, the proposed regulations for commercial breeders are budget-neutral and would actually generate $1.3 million in annual revenue for the state of Minnesota by bringing these businesses, an estimated 75 percent of which are tax evaders, into tax compliance.

If you are concerned about these bills, please speak to your representatives today!