A four-month long investigation by the animal rights group Mercy for Animals documented serious cruelty and neglect of pigs at one of Wal-Mart's biggest pork suppliers.

Iowa Legislature approved a bill last week making it the first state to criminalize clandestine or undercover activity used to collect footage of animal abuse occurring on factory farms. The decision has led to an outcry of concern from animal welfare groups, some of which have successfully aided in the criminal prosecution of abusers caught on tape acquired covertly.

Efforts by Florida's secretive animal agriculture industry seeking to make it a criminal act for any individual or animal protection groups to obtain photos or videos of animal cruelty inside Florida factory farms or slaughterhouses were shot down earlier this week.

Earlier this week, the animal protection organization, Mercy For Animals, released undercover video footage of serious animal abuse at a Texas factory farm.

A Florida bill passed late last month making any photos obtained from illegal entry to a factory farm a misdemeanor crime. The proposed felony targeted trespassers, typically animal rights advocates capturing abusive and neglectful conditions, but the Florida Senate Committee downgraded the violation.

Sir Paul McCartney summed it up when he said that if "slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be a vegetarian." Cultural norms have long justified inhumane conditions towards animals raised for food, to both suffer and die in. Animal rights organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Mercy for Animals have caught truly unbelievable "standard industry practices" and shocking cases of cruelty in undercover videos.