New Poll Shows Overwhelming Support for Undercover Investigations

A new poll of North Carolina voters shows overwhelming support for undercover investigations by groups like Mercy For Animals at factory farms and slaughterhouses in the state. In fact, 74 percent of North Carolina voters say they support undercover investigations by animal protection groups.

By a margin of nearly 3 to 1, voters also strongly oppose efforts by Big Ag to prohibit undercover investigations by passing ag-gag laws. These laws are designed to silence whistleblowers who dare to expose animal abuse or other crimes on factory farms. The poll was conducted by Lake Research Partners and commissioned by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).

Multiple MFA undercover investigations in North Carolina have exposed rampant cruelty to animals at some of the state’s largest factory farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses, including:
  • Birds violently shackled upside down, painfully shocked with electricity, and sawed open at the throat at a major chicken supplier to Gordon Food Service—serving PF Chang’s, Perkins, Culver’s, Red Robin, and The Melting Pot
  • Baby birds having their sensitive toes and beaks cut and burned off without any painkillers, workers callously throwing and dropping these fragile animals, and sick or injured birds being thrown into a pit to be ground up alive at a turkey hatchery for Butterball
  • Workers kicking, throwing, and beating animals with metal pipes at a Butterball turkey breeding facility—an investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of an official with the state department of agriculture and several workers, including the first-ever felony conviction related to factory-farmed birds in U.S. history
Despite overwhelming public support for undercover investigations, and widespread opposition to efforts to impede these investigations, the factory farming industry is pushing a dangerous ag-gag bill through the North Carolina legislature right now. Rather than improve conditions for farmed animals or strengthen laws to protect them, North Carolina legislators are working overtime to sweep evidence of animal abuse under the rug.

Please join the #NoAgGag movement today, sign the petition, and help spread the word about North Carolina’s dangerous ag-gag bill. Don’t let the meat industry gag you!