According to ABC News, animal rights group Mercy for Animals has halted undercover camera investigations into animal cruelty in five farm states, including Iowa and Utah where laws against such filming went into effect last year. The Humane Society of the United States has also stopped its hidden-camera investigations in those states. Click here to read Progressive Dairyman's December article, "Dairy industry adapting strategically to video probes," in which communications consultant Charlie Arnot writes that the dairy industry has "gone from saying nothing and defending the farmer at all costs to becoming a leading voice in the conversation."

Legislation to stop the undercover videos has already been introduced this year in the legislatures of at least five states: New Hampshire, Indiana, Nebraska, Wyoming and Arkansas. Other states where animal rights groups expect legislation to be introduced include Minnesota, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Farm groups lobbying for the laws say they don't condone animal cruelty but that the exposés by animal rights groups are not the best way to solve the problem.

"If somebody comes on somebody else's property, through fraud or deception or lying, that is a serious violation of people' rights," said Iowa Governor Terry Branstad when he signed the bill into law. PD

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—From ABC News (Click here to read the full article.)