The activists said that California penal code gave them the right to rescue animals that were being abused. 'We believe we have the legal right to rescue animals and get them the medical care they deserve,' event organizer Wayne Hsiung said.
DANIEL MORITZ-RABSON: ‘Law enforcement officials arrested 67 animal rights activists who raided a California poultry plant and rescued chickens… About 200 activists broke into McCoy’s Poultry Services in Petaluma, according to a statement from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office… Those arrested were charged with misdemeanor trespassing, felony burglary and felony conspiracy… The activists belong to the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, whose participants staged and a 500-person rally across from a farm in May…
Members of the group have also recently rescued piglets from a Utah farm, interrupted diners at restaurants and protested a butcher shop, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. They “brought a medical tent, under which they brought some birds found in a large shed, saying they needed medical care for conditions such as dehydration, broken limbs from being trampled and ammonia burns from standing in waste,” according to CBS San Francisco.
“We believe we have the legal right to rescue animals and get them the medical care they deserve,” event organizer Wayne Hsiung said. The activists said that California penal code gave them the right to rescue animals that were being abused. Direct Action Everywhere spokesman Matt Johnson rebuked the felony and assault charges, and defended the group’s actions. “That’s not the way we act,” he said, according to the Houston Chronicle. “We train extensively in nonviolent protest in the spirit of Gandhi.” He also said the chickens were being kept in poor conditions. “These are supposedly free-range chickens and we’ve found chickens dead and dying inside the barns,” he said’. SOURCE…
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