Target: Tom Corbett, Governor of Pennsylvania
Goal: Protect animals from inhumane treatment and preserve freedom of speech
Billions of animals in factory farms live in crowded and cruel conditions around the country. Politicians and corporate supporters in Pennsylvania are trying to suppress information about how their chickens are squeezed into tiny cages, their cows are inhumanely slaughtered, and their horses are picked apart for products. The public must be allowed to understand where their animal products come from and how they were obtained. Demand transparency at agricultural factory farms and bring this inhuman treatment to light.
Bills are pending in the Pennsylvania legislature that threaten to silence the individuals working to expose factory farm animal cruelty. These “Ag-Gag” bills violate our freedom of speech and our right to know where our food comes from. By prohibiting the investigation of factory farms through recordings and photographs, these bills encourage secrecy on our nation’s farms.
Without transparency, factory farms will continue to inhumanely treat and slaughter animals for profit. If public attention is brought to these cruel practices, factory farms will be forced to change their ways and raise their animals in respectable ways. Sign the below petition to urge lawmakers in Pennsylvania and around the country to ensure that the public is informed about factory farm practices.
Dear Governor Tom Corbett,
Inhumane treatment at agricultural factory farms is not only a problem in Pennsylvania, but all around the country. Although the cruel slaughtering of animals on farms is nothing new, recent legislation threatens to silence potential whistle-blowers who care for animals enough to bright light to a devastating situation. People who care for the welfare of animals should not be criminalized, but rather praised and used to help monitor and enforce humane laws for animal treatment.
I am urging you to support legislation that protects farm animals in your state from cruel treatment and also preserves the freedom of speech of conservationists and animal-supporters. Although animal farming is an essential component to Pennsylvania’s economy, it is your responsibility to ensure that it is done properly. Please work with animal-rights organizations to monitor factory farms and enforce laws that keep farm animals safe. Let Pennsylvania serve as an example to the rest of the nation of how farm animals should be treated.
[Your Name Here]
Photo credit: PD-USGOV via WikiMedia Commons