Utah bill seeks jail time for flying drones near livestock
A Utah lawmaker wants to send people to jail for harassing farm animals with drones, all-terrain vehicles and even dogs through a proposal that’s unique in the U.S. and has gained an unlikely opponent.
Republican Rep. Scott Chew, who’s also a rancher, said Tuesday that he introduced the bill because farmers incur significant costs and hardships when livestock are injured.
Senior attorney for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Lora Dunn, says the measure is the first of its kind in the country.
The Humane Society of the United States says the plan is redundant and may discourage members of the public from getting close enough to livestock to expose farmers’ mistreatment of their animals.
Utah already has a law that makes it illegal to injure or kill farm animals.
