By Andi Elliott

Our animal cruelty laws in Idaho are a sham and too many law enforcement agencies turn a blind eye to those we have. Our legislators in conjunction with the Idaho Department of Agriculture have designed the system so that production animals may even be treated more horrendously than companion animals. We certainly wouldn’t want our farmer/rancher legislators being held accountable for cruel practices.

Now the Idaho Dairy Industry headed by Idaho’s largest dairy, Bettencourt, is today introducing an “Ag Gag” bill designed to keep people from filming acts of animal cruelty on farms. It even goes so far as to make it a first time felony by merely filling out an application for employment for the purposes of doing such. But animal cruelty itself requires three convictions before it becomes a felony.

In 2012 Bettencourt employees were charged with the most egregious animal cruelty. The video is sickening. Needless and wanton acts of animal cruelty on cows that were confined in milking stalls. One employee spent 102 days in jail; others fled, I’m told. Bettencourt Dairy owner says, “I love my animals and I’ve been in the dairy business since I was a kid. Animal care is a number one issue in our facilities.” Really, then why support an Ag Gag Law? What do you have to hide?

Bettencourt is a supplier of milk for Kraft which makes cheese for Wendy’s, MacDonald’s, etc. Call you reps and the companies and tell them “No institutionalized animal cruelty in Idaho!”

If you enjoyed this article, consider subscribing to the full-feed RSS.