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Animal rights activists won a victory in the state legislature today as agricultural powerhouses dropped a plan to make it a crime to videotape on farms. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, activists say the legislation could have kept animal abuse secret and put human consumers at risk.

The photographer who took these pictures could have been guilty of a misdemeanor under legislation that was moving through the state legislature. But after pressure from animal rights activists, big agriculture threw in the towel.

“It has caused a lot of consternation and clouded the rest of Rep. Albritton’s good bill,” Rep. Ray Pilon (R-Sarasota) said.

With that vote, the criminal penalty was pulled out of the bill, leaving provisions on storm water run off and others intact and without opposition.

It was undercover video’s like these that prompted the legislation

After public pressure, Cattlemen reversed themselves on Monday. Wednesday it was the poultry producers doing a turn around.

“The Humane Society of the United States came to an agreement on some federal legislation that would deal with the poultry industry, so that we’re not dealing with regulations for the poultry industry state by state,” Florida Poultry Association representative Nancy Spencer said.

Undercover operations are rare, but The Humane Society of the United States says that without the ability to conduct them, proving abuse would be near impossible.

“When investigations have been done, they’ve brought to light things that needed to be known and brought to light, so we hope we never see this bill again,” Laura Bevan with the Humane Society of the United States said.

Hundreds of people had written lawmakers protesting the criminal charges.