FBI Records Reveal Ironic Accusations Against Animal Activists

In 2023, activists were recorded entering a poultry farm in California and removing ducks from the farm. The activists were part of the group Direct Action Everywhere, which often operates open rescues of animals. The same activists then went to another poultry farm in the area to rescue chickens, saving them from slaughter.

Shortly following these incidents, bird flu outbreaks were reported in the county. The state report identified various failed farm management practices that could have contributed to the virus’s spread, as well as the possibility the flu came from wild birds. However, the report also mentioned animal activists in the report, and because of this, news outlets were quick to suggest activists were spreading bird flu to animals.

Now, newly released FBI records reveal that the bureau has been exploring extreme legal measures — including the potential use of weapons of mass destruction statutes — to target animal rights activists, and make legal penalties substantially more severe. The penalty for these “weapons of mass destruction” laws range state-by-state, from 12 years, to life in prison.

An Ironic Accusation Against Animal Activists

Two years ago, the non-profit legal advocacy group Animal Partisan learned that the FBI had participated in agricultural conferences. The organization submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request looking for records of the FBI’s connection to the animal agriculture industry; specifically, a presentation the FBI made to the North American Meat Institute. The request was rejected. The FBI denied the existence of such records, and also argued that the other documents they did have were exempt. In response, Animal Partisan sued the FBI for the records. It was not until this year that the FBI records were released.

The documents, obtained by Animal Partisan, include details from a 2020 presentation given by an FBI representative at a North American Meat Institute conference, where they explored the potential of holding activists accountable for introducing harmful biological agents into factory farms.

“It’s ironic, in a way, because we know so much about zoonotic diseases and their animal origins, yet their lens is shifting that to ‘okay, now an activist is trespassing into an animal enterprise. What kind of contamination is happening, and can we trace whatever potential result from that to those actions of the activists?’” Laura Fox, director of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic at Vermont Law and Graduate School, tells Sentient.

Fox has previously attributed the rise of avian influenza to the intense confinement conditions of factory farms.

Though shocking, the FBI documents reflect a broader trend of tactics that can be used against animal activists. Around the U.S. you can find state legislation that criminalizes filming inside slaughterhouses or factory farms. Known as “ag-gag” laws, these measures effectively attempt to stop undercover investigators, activists and journalists from gaining access to footage that would make the public aware of animal cruelty, unsafe food production and labor issues inside slaughterhouses. There are currently eight states that have ag-gag laws in place.

The newly released records state that the FBI was asked to give insight into “agroterrorism and federal law enforcement’s approach to protecting the United States meat industry” at an October 2020 virtual conference held by the North American Meat Institute. The FBI apparently discussed the idea that animal right activists can escalate to “substantial direct actions.” The case mentioned was an incident where activists associated with the group Direct Action Everywhere gained access to a Holmes Foods, Incorporated, of Gonzales, Texas, a poultry broiler in 2019.

Though the report says the individuals in that case were charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass, the FBI in their presentation apparently emphasized domestic terrorism, and “potential WMD food sector connection.”  “WMD,” meaning weapons of mass destruction. In this case, the introduction of a biological or hazardous material to flocks or herds.

“Rather than taking disease outbreaks seriously for the public safety risk they present, government agencies are more interested in using them strategically to flame ridiculous fears that animal rights activists are the ones endangering animals,” Cassie King of Direct Action Everywhere wrote in an email to Sentient.

The Real WMD: Zoonotic Disease Spread by Factory Farming

There are no proven instances of animal activists purposefully introducing a disease to a farm. As animal activists trying to save animals’ lives, the idea would seem intuitively counterproductive to their mission. Yet slaughterhouses themselves are a breeding ground for disease.

The crowded and often unsanitary conditions of these industrial-scale farms facilitate the rapid spread and mutation of pathogens, making it easier for diseases to develop and spread. The stress and poor living conditions animals live in can also contribute to a higher incidence of infections and disease transmission.

One study found that since the 1940s, agriculture has been associated with 25 percent of all infectious diseases, and 50 percent of zoonotic disease. This rate is likely to increase as more of the world is using intensive agriculture practices. In other words, it is factory farming itself — the very system animal activists are trying to dismantle — that poses the existential threat of mass destruction.

“We know that confined animal feeding operations, high volume production, high slaughter rates — all of these are risky behaviors that lend to the perfect breeding grounds for viral diseases, and it’s the companies that are mandating those risky behaviors and practices,” Fox says. “It’s not the good-meaning animal rights activists who just want to get and expose these bad behaviors and practices. So [these strategies are] really trying to shift the narrative.”

Take the avian influenza outbreaks, which have led to the slaughter of over half a billion farmed birds since the H5 strain was identified; infected birds often live in cramped conditions where they’re highly susceptible to the virus spreading easily. Now, the bird flu has even jumped to mammals, and cows and humans are also contracting the disease.

Yet this is not the first time that the FBI, or one of its offices, has attributed responsibility for spreading viruses into farms or the animal industry to activists. In 2019, the FBI Sacramento Field Office conducted an assessment stating that Direct Action Everywhere tactics were likely increasing the spread of virulent Newcastle disease in a poultry farm in California, while also causing economic harm to the industry.

“The FBI has been active against animal rights activists for many decades. Historically, tactics include things like surveillance, planting rumors to discredit and disrupt activities, infiltration with informants and public condemnation as a threat to national security,” Will Lowrey, founder of Animal Partisan, wrote in an email to Sentient.

Will These Tactics to Further Criminalize Activists Succeed?

Despite the FBI’s exploration of weapons of mass destruction statutes, actually using such laws against animal rights activists would face significant legal hurdles. There are degrees of intent that they would have to prove, and the prosecution would have to show evidence of intent to harm, or intent to introduce viruses to farms — which makes it challenging for the FBI to successfully apply these statutes in practice.

Despite these hurdles, the threat of such severe charges could still act as a powerful deterrent, Fox expects, potentially discouraging activists from pursuing critical investigations into harmful practices in the animal agriculture industry.

“The FBI’s presentation signals an ominous new stage in the agency’s efforts to stifle dissent critical of animal agriculture,” Fox says.