During two direct action protests last year, five miles down the road from Reichardt Duck Farm, activists seized 51 chickens, including 14 dead and dying birds. Four activists were arrested and still face felony charges. It’s a risk the activists are willing to take.
MATTHEW ZAMPA: ‘Eleven coach buses full of people. Animals in distress. Riot police. Shields. Batons. Sheriffs. Angry farmers. Press. Cameras everywhere. People tend to behave when there are cameras around… When locals see 11 coach buses lined up on Petaluma’s narrow country roads, they know what it means. During two direct action protests last year, five miles down the road from Reichardt Duck Farm, activists seized 51 chickens, including 14 dead and dying birds. Four activists were arrested and still face felony charges. It’s a risk the activists are willing to take…
Pits of liquid manure lined either side of the small farm road outside Reichardt, where 600 black-clad activists gathered, holding red roses and flashing peace signs at the riot police as they marched by in two single-file lines, chanting “left… left… left – right – left.” Another group of activists crossed the police line about a half-mile down the road and joined the group at the front gate. The crowd cheered.
At Reichardt, the ground team rescued 32 ducks from the facility before they were confronted by farmworkers and forced to leave. California Penal Code 597e gives activists the right to enter any facility where animals are sick, injured, or do not have access to food and water. The ducks were transported to an undisclosed location. Rachel was sitting on the ground in a line of twenty-or-so other activists facing the crowd on the other side of the road. They were chained together and holding ducks in their arms, blocking the entrance to the farm…
Some of the ducks, who rescuers found in dumpsters still living, were rushed to veterinarians, according to Glenn Greenwald, who reported from the scene along with several other journalists from The Atlantic, The Intercept, NBC, and CBS. The legal ramifications from the action were overwhelming. Eighty activists were arrested on a variety of charges, including felony charges of conspiracy, vandalism, bail violation, and receiving stolen property – the dead duck Rachel cradled in her arms – as well as misdemeanor counts of trespassing and obstructing a public business establishment’. SOURCE…
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