Heigl challenges Utah bill to outlaw factory farm filming

Actress KATHERINE HEIGL has launched a campaign aimed at halting legislation in her adopted Utah, which will ban animal rights organisations from filming undercover in the state's factory farms.

Heigl, who wed singer Josh Kelley in Utah and owns a home there, is appalled by the plan to outlaw on-camera investigations into animal cruelty and she has written to every member of the state Senate on behalf of PETA, urging them to reconsider passing house bill 187.

She writes, "This bill makes our state's agricultural community seem desperate to hide illegal and inhumane treatment of animals from the public.

"I hope that legislators in Utah recognize that they need to work to prevent cruelty to animals by strengthening laws, not penalising those who are trying to expose this cruelty."

H.B. 187 passed in the Utah House of Representatives on Friday (24Feb12), and the Senate has until 8 March (12) to act.