Wayne Hsiung: A simple guide to rescuing animals who are victims of criminal abuse
There are a large number of criminal offenses that could be charged in an animal rescue scenario — burglary, theft, criminal damage, conspiracy — but virtually all of these incorrectly assume that rescuing animals from abuse is a criminal violation of an animal abuser’s legal rights. This assumption is incorrect. Rescuing animals from abuse is not a crime. There are numerous provisions of law that plausibly create a right to rescue animals from abuse.
WAYNE HSIUNG: In March 2024, my two co-defendants and I were slated to go to trial after being accused of burglary and theft for removing three distressed beagles from cages at Ridglan Farms. The charges were dismissed on the first day of trial, and we turned the tables on the industry by successfully filing a petition to bring criminal charges against Ridglan instead. But as a result of the dismissal of those charges, the legal argument for the right to rescue was never properly developed in a court of law.
So I want to offer… a very simple explanation of that argument, both for activists who are considering action and for other animal advocates. The theory behind the right to rescue has significant implications for the future of animal rights, including the fundamental question of whether animals are “persons” or “things.”
There are a large number of criminal offenses that could be charged in an animal rescue scenario — burglary, theft, criminal damage, conspiracy — but virtually all of these incorrectly assume that rescuing animals from abuse is a criminal violation of an animal abuser’s legal rights. This assumption is incorrect. Rescuing animals from abuse is not a crime…
This is, of course, a very simple guide and does not cover all the nuances of the law… However, the main conclusion is clear: there are numerous provisions of law that plausibly create a right to rescue animals from abuse… It took decades of litigation, for example, for the US Supreme Court to finally recognize the personhood of human slaves, or the citizenship rights of women. I suspect it will take a much shorter time period for courts to reach the right answers on animal rights. SOURCE
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