Gov. Cox signs bill into law that removes defense in theft cases involving sick livestock

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ST. GEORGE — It is now officially against the law in Utah to take livestock from a farm or food production facility without an owner’s permission if a person determines the animal is injured, sick or a liability to that owner.

In a file photo, activists supporting Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer celebrate on the steps of 5th District Courthouse, St. George, Utah, Oct. 8, 2022 | Photo by Chris Reed, St. George News

Late Thursday, Gov. Spencer Cox signed Theft Defense Amendments,  HB 114, into law after it passed both houses of the Utah Legislature.

Cox expressed support for the bill last month.

The law has changed the portion of the Utah Criminal Code on theft to say that “it is not a defense that the actor takes livestock, as defined in Section 76-6-110, from the owner because the livestock is sick, injured, or a liability to the owner.”

Such a defense was cited by a St. George jury last October that found two men not guilty of burglarizing the Smithfield Foods Circle Four Farm in Milford after they admitted taking two piglets from the pork production facility in 2017. 

Supporters of the new law have said it closes a loophole in the law, while animal activists and at least one of the cleared defendants in the Circle Four Farm trial said it is a way to go around the will of a jury and assert there is a “right to rescue” animals they say are abused on what have been called factory farms.

The new law is not retroactive and the October verdict still stands. After a change to the bill early in the process, it also doesn’t pertain to domestic animals seen in distress such as a dog locked in a car in the hot summer months.


Check out all of St. George News’ coverage of the 2023 Utah Legislature here.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.

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