Bill Targets Animal-Rights Activists Filming at Farms

The Kentucky Senate voted to punish animal-rights activists with jail and fines for secretly filming farm operations, attaching the proposal to legislation meant to prevent animal shelters from using gas chambers as a form of euthanasia, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported. But the bill itself may be doomed.

Joni Jenkins (D-KY), the sponsor of the original House-passed bill, said she will not ask the House to take up the broader bill in the final days of the General Assembly session, which will kill the measure.

The amended measure would make it a misdemeanor for someone to gain access to a private farm under false pretenses and film or photograph the operations without the landowner’s consent. Violators could face up to 90 days in jail and a $250 fine.

The provision’s supporters still can try to attach the provision to another bill in the waning legislative session. The legislation is House Bill 222.