Community
Print
Three vegan activists were reportedly arrested yesterday on charges of felony grand theft and misdemeanor trespass at a California factory farm.
The women – who have been named as Julianne Perry, Priya Sawhney, and Alicia Santurio – were taking part in a vigil along with 60 activists with global animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE).
The farm – Ray-Mar Ranches – was recently covered by The Intercept, which described conditions as ‘grisly’.
Vegans arrested
Video footage of the incident shows the women weeping as they find a living calf abandoned in a pile of dead animals, and try to remove her.
“She was alive and they threw her in a dead pile!” one of the activists says.
Attempts to remove the animals were stopped by Sheriff’s deputies who arrested the activists.
‘No value’
DxE activists described the arrests a ‘the latest in a pattern of corporate and government inaction in the face of animal cruelty’.
Activists with the organization have faced a series of felony charges across the country, including 58 activists charged with multiple felonies attempting to rescue chickens from a Petaluma, CA farm on September 29.
They cite the legal opinion of a distinguished law scholar the UC Hastings College of Law in claiming that the farm is guilty of criminal animal cruelty, and that the activists are in fact legally justified in helping animals in need of immediate need of care.
“A sick calf left for dead is of negative economic value to the farm,” DxE co-founder and former Northwestern Law Professor Wayne Hsiung said. “These unlawful arrests have nothing to do with justice and everything to do with shielding corporate profits by shielding consumers from the truth.”
At present, it appears the calf was left outside the facility after the women were arrested.
Plant Based News has contacted Ray-Mar Ranches for comment.?
