Jane Velez-Mitchell

More backlash against the move by a number of states to pass AG-Gag bills. These bills would make it illegal to use undercover videos to expose animal abuse on factory farms. Now animal lovers everywhere are speaking out.  Brand new ads are airing against proposed AG-Gag laws in Tennessee.

Jane spoke to best-selling author Rory Freedman.  Rory was the co-author of the wildly popular "skinny bitch" series and now has a new book called “Beg: A Radical New Way of Regarding Animals.”   You can find out more about Rory and her new book here.

The meat industry wants to pass so-called AG-Gag bills. These laws make it a crime to go undercover and videotape abuses at factory farms. Right now, as we speak, about 9 Billion animals are living out their lives in these factories.

Meat industry groups say those harrowing undercover videos present an inaccurate image of their industry. But, animal protection groups say, the cruelties are not aberrations and instead are the industry standard. They point to pigs kept in gestation crates the size of their bodies--unable to even turn around for months on end. Critics say these crates are clearly cruel and constitute torture.

A deadly battle is being fought in South Africa. Each year nearly 700 rhinos are killed for their valuable horns. These poachers are ruthless, killing more than 100 park rangers who dared to get in their way.

Now there is new hope for the rhinos and you might be surprised to find out who it is: Four U.S. Special forces vets are fighting back against the poachers and fighting to save the rhinos. "Oz" is a green beret and one of the stars of the brand new animal planet series "Battleground: Rhino Wars".  He tells Jane Velez-Mitchell how he got involved in fighting for rhinos and what he saw in South Africa.

Comedian Kevin Nealon fights for animal rights!  Hollywood stars are converging to tell the public that farm animals are just as important as their pets at home.  And “Saturday Night Live” alum Nealon is leading the charge on behalf of Farm Sanctuary.  Nealon is hosting a benefit for the organization, which rescues hundreds of animals from factory farms, stockyards, and slaughterhouses, then rehabilitates them and provides them with lifelong care.

If you want to get involved, go to farmsanctuary.org.

Horrifying abuse at a North Carolina turkey farm is caught on tape. The animal rights group Mercy For Animals released an undercover video showing shocking abuse at a Butterball turkey farm. The video, and the abuse it showed, led authorities to investigate and later convict four employees of cruelty to animals.  Three of those convictions were misdemeanor convictions but one man was convicted of “felonious” cruelty to animals the first ever felony conviction in U.S. history for cruelty to factory-farmed poultry.

Butterball gave us this statement regarding the abuse at the farm:

Hollywood star James Cromwell, from the Academy Award winning film "Babe" joins Jane Velez-Mitchell to discuss his latest role: Loud protester at a university board hearing. 

Cromwell was recently arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for bursting into a University of Wisconsin-Madison hearing to protest the university’s controversial cat experiments. The university claims the experiments are valuable research that aids in their development of cochlear implants that can help the hearing impaired.  PETA, however, calls the experiments “useless” and “cruel”.

For years, animal rights organizations have been going undercover to expose abuse on factory farms. In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States released a video of diseased downer cows being used for commercial beef at a California slaughterhouse. That video led to the largest meat recall in United States history.

Now several states are introducing legislation that will ban these undercover investigations. Jane Velez-Mitchell spoke to Humane Society spokesperson, Paul Shapiro, to find out why states are trying to silence the whistleblowers.

Secretary of Interior, Ken Salazar, is resigning from his position, leaving the Obama administration in March. Animal advocates say this is the time for the U.S. government to end the controversial practice of horse roundups.

The Interior Department oversees the Bureau of Land Management which runs the horse roundups. The roundups are done by helicopters flying dangerously close to and sometimes striking horses in order to drive them into holding areas where they can then be moved. But critics say this practice is inhumane. And they want the next Secretary of Interior to protect the horses as well as the open ranges. Some have even started a petition to have Raul Grijalva named the next Secretary.