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i never connect to endangered species to 420 covid pandemic; guess i thought of this as domestic agric and pet animals

may be interesting battleground in terms of corp rights, as science shows increasingly what we thought was distinctly human is not; cf op-ed in which idea of corp personhood is made fun of in terms on a chimp impersonation? suit?

420 aha ish interesting that this turned out to be a fringe issue, thus attackable as eco terror, but pandemics come from animal trade/deforest etc

an 10 22

Fork 1 Bush 41 Sabotage Climate Conference

Fork 2 Exxon Knew, abandons clean energy

Fork 3: Bush 43 abandons Kyoto

Fork 4: Trump abandons Paris

no lnx

Acquittal of activists who saved dying piglets from Smithfield Foods sets 'right to rescue' precedent

Kenny Stancil and Common Dreams October 09, 2022

Opponents of factory farms and animal cruelty celebrated Saturday night when jurors acquitted two activists who were each facing up to five-and-a-half years in prison on felony burglary and theft charges stemming from the2017 removal of a pair of sick piglets from a Smithfield Foods factory farm in Utah.

The not-guilty verdict—a landmark decision establishing the legal "right to rescue" distressed animals in need of care—is "the culmination of a more than five-year pursuit that multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Utah attorney general's office,"The Intercept's Marina Bolotnikova reported.

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As Bolotnikova noted, the case "began after the activists published undercover footage revealing gruesome conditions at Smithfield, the nation's largest pork producer," in violation of Utah's 2012 ag-gag law criminalizing the collection of evidence of animal abuse and other illegal activities on factory farms.

Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer, members of theanimal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), rescued two dangerously underweight piglets, whom they named Lily and Lizzie, from Circle Four Farms in Beaver County in March 2017. The men took the piglets to receive emergency veterinary care and then transported them to an animal sanctuary in Colorado.

Cheers erupted in the courtroom on Saturday when Judge Jeffrey Wilcox announced the jury's unanimous decision to acquit both defendants following more than seven hours of deliberation.The trial had to be moved from Beaver County to neighboring Washington County after activists endured threats of violence and intimidation from local authorities, prompting a civil rights lawsuit.

"They just let a guy who walked into a factory farm and took two piglets out without the consent of Smithfield walk out of the courtroom free," Hsiung, who co-founded DxE in 2013, told reporters outside the courthouse in St. George, Utah. "If it can happen in southern Utah, it can happen anywhere."

During his closing remarks to jurors, Hsiung, a former Northwestern Law visiting professor who represented himself at trial, said: "I don't actually want you to acquit us on a legal technicality. I want you to acquit us as a matter of conscience. There's a big difference between stealing and rescue."

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If you help establish the "right to rescue," Hsiung told the jury, "companies will be a little more compassionate to creatures under their stewardship. Governments will be a little more open to animal cruelty complaints. And maybe just maybe, a baby pig like Lily won't have to starve to death on the floor of a factory farm."

"We all have a duty to be kind," said Hsiung. "And your decision today, if you make a good one, will make the world a little bit of a kinder place, even for a baby pig of a factory farm."

As DxE pointed out in a statement:

A most unlikely character witness, Rick Pitman, testified in support of the defendants Friday. Pitman is the owner of Norbest, a turkey farming company in Utah, which Hsiung and Picklesimer previously investigated and were charged for, before striking up a friendship and annual Thanksgiving turkey rescue tradition.

During cross-examination, Assistant Utah Attorney General Janise Macanas asked Pitman if Hsiung's actions had caused him financial harm. Pitman replied, 'There's a difference between stealing a turkey and rescuing a turkey who is suffering.'

The case had been criticized by legal scholars as unconstitutional and politically motivated, given Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes' possible financial ties to Smithfield.

"State and federal authorities have consistently shielded factory farms from transparency and accountability," said Matthew Strugar, an attorney who has been involved in every successful effort to overturn "ag-gag" statutes in the United States. "In nearly two decades of legal work, this case is one of the most egregious I've seen, in terms of denying defendants' constitutional right to a rigorous defense."

Although Hsiung and Picklesimer "documented dead and dying piglets in piles of feces and blood and claim the two piglets they removed were injured, sick, and starving," DxE noted, Wilcox ruled in February that "video of the rescue—and any evidence of the condition of the animals—is barred because it might arouse 'horror' in the jury."

As Bolotnikova explained Saturday, citing previous reporting by The Intercept, the FBI in August 2017 "chased the piglets across state lines and raided the sanctuary where they were living, bringing with them veterinarians who sliced off a piece of Lizzie's ear to perform a DNA test and confirm that she was the property of Smithfield Foods. (The animals were not removed from the sanctuary, and still live there to this day.)"

"Prosecutors alleged that the baby pigs, who were barely a week old when the activists removed them, were worth $42.20 each, or $84.40 in total, to Smithfield," Bolotnikova reported. "The U.S.-based pork producer is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based pork company WH Group, which reported $24 billion of revenue in 2019."

Hadar Aviram, a professor at UC Hastings Law who testified in favor of the activists, told The Intercept that "Smithfield has an enormous amount of financial interests that are wrapped up in this."

"They have an enormous amount to lose if this trial becomes public, and they cannot afford, or maybe they think they cannot afford, to give an inch to these people," said Aviram.

The pig rescue occurred during a DxE investigation to uncover whether Smithfield had followed through on its pledge to stop using two-foot by seven-foot gestation crates that make it impossible for pregnant pigs to turn around.

Hsiung, Picklesimer, and three others who pleaded out of the case discovered rows of pregnant pigs confined to such cages despite the company's promise to swear off of them. Evidence from the probe has been used in a lawsuit against Smithfield for misleading consumers, and it sparked nationwide protests against Costco,one of Smithfield's major buyers.

The animal rights activists also found "a facility packed with farrowing crates—similar to gestation crates, but with just enough additional room to fit nursing piglets—where female pigs are moved when they're ready to give birth," The Intercept noted. "The group found dead and rotting piglets inside the facility, as well as visibly ill and injured ones like Lily and Lizzie."

"A key part of the defense's case was that the piglets were on the verge of death when Hsiung and Picklesimer took them, and Smithfield routinely throws sick or dead animals away," the news outlet noted. "Had the animals remained in the company's possession, the defense argued, they would have been worthless."

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By setting a "right to rescue" precedent, the activists' major victory against a multi-billion dollar industry could have far-reaching implications.

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"This is huge. On many levels," Bolotnikova tweeted. "And it shows a hell of a lot about how out-of-touch red-state prosecutors and politicians are from the people they represent."

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The U.S. Supreme Court, she added, will soon hear arguments over California's ban on gestation crates, which "were on trial in this case even though the judge didn't want them to be."

someone pointed out pandemics come out of ~ ecology, logging etc

https://theconversation.com/the-new-coronavirus-emerged-from-the-global-wildlife-trade-and-may-be-devastating-enough-to-end-it-133333

OVID-19 is one of countless emerging infectious diseases that are zoonotic, meaning they originate in animals. About 75% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, accounting for billions of illnesses and millions of deaths annually across the globe.

When these diseases spill over to humans, the cause frequently is human behaviors, including habitat destruction and the multibillion-dollar international wildlife trade – the latter being the suspected source of the novel coronavirus.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to impose severe restrictions, such as social distancing, that will have massive economic costs. But there has been less discussion about identifying and changing behaviors that contribute to the emergence of zoonotic diseases. As a conservation biologist, I believe this outbreak demonstrates the urgent need to end the global wildlife trade.

Markets for disease

As many Americans now know, the COVID-19 coronavirus is one of a family of coronaviruses commonly found in bats. It is suspected to have passed through a mammal, perhaps pangolins – the most-trafficked animal on the planet – before jumping to humans.

The virus’s spillover to humans is believed to have occurred in a so-called wet market in China. At these markets, live, wild-caught animals, farm-raised wild species and livestock frequently intermingle in conditions that are unsanitary and highly stressful for the animals. These circumstances are ripe for infection and spillover.

The current outbreak is just the latest example of viruses jumping from animals to humans. HIV is perhaps the most infamous example: It originated from chimps in central Africa and still kills hundreds of thousands of people annually. It likely jumped to humans through consumption of bushmeat, or meat from wildlife, which is also the likely origin of several Ebola oubreaks. PREDICT, a U.S.-funded nonprofit, suggests there are thousands of viral species circulating in birds and mammals that pose a direct risk to humans.

Decimating wildlife and humans

The SHAC 7 outside the courthouse in New Jersey.

A federal court convicted a group of animal advocates of “animal enterprise terrorism” for running a controversial website that supported both legal and illegal activity against a lab called Huntingdon Life Sciences. The site also listed addresses for corporations and corporate executives. The group, dubbed the SHAC 7, were never charged with breaking windows or releasing animals, but they vocally supported those types of activities. For that, they were convicted of “conspiring” to promote “terrorism.” Here’s a closer look at the SHAC 7.

That’s the name the FBI gave to the historic roundup of environmental and animal rights activists for a string of Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front actions, including arson in the name of protecting the environment. Before these defendants ever set foot in the courtroom, they were labeled in the press as “eco-terrorists.” The government successfully pushed for “terrorism enhancement” penalties in many of these cases. As a result, many of these activists are now in prison as “terrorists,����� a label that drastically changes their prison life and will follow them long after release. Another result of the “terrorism enhancement” is that the FBI claims these cases as a victory in the “War on Terrorism.”

http://www.greenisthenewred.com/blog/green-scare/

Power to the Plaintiffs

Holt complained that current libel law "has been a major stumbling block to the progress of a lawsuit brought by the Washington Apple Growers against the National Resources Defense Council, perpetrators of the Alar scare. The growers initially filed suit in Yakima County (WA) Superior Court; but . . . the growers lost their case." (See our related story about the Alar case on page 10.) Fortunately, he added, "agribusiness is now fighting back, shepherding what are known as 'agricultural product disparagement laws' through state legislatures. . . . On the national level, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture wants similar provisions to be included in the 1995 farm bill."

The drive has been spearheaded by the nonprofit, tax-exempt Animal Industry Foundation (AIF), which calls itself "animal agriculture's collective voice on food animal production, its effect on diet and environment, and its contributions to our quality of life."

AIF's corporate funders include the powerhouse **:{Burson-Marsteller:(style="background-color:#fff200;"):}:** and **:{Hill & Knowlton:(style="background-color:#fff200;"):}:** PR firms. Its trustees include a who's-who list of meat industry lobby and trade associations: the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Feed Industry Association, American Sheep Industry, American Society of Animal Science, American Veal Association., National Broiler Council, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Milk Producers Federation, National Pork Producers Council, National Turkey Federation, Southeastern Poultry & Egg Association and United Egg Producers.

"The model for these statutes was developed by the American Feed Industry Association," boasts an AIF newsletter. "If you'd like a copy of the model state legislation, please contact in writing Steve Kopperud at AFIA." AIF in fact shares the same address, phone and staff as AFIA--the American Feed Industry Association, a "national trade association representing the manufacturers of more than 70 percent of the primary formula livestock and poultry feed sold annually."

In a letter to Consumer Reports, Kopperud has defended the industry's rationale behind food disparagement laws, claiming that they "do not repress free speech, but rather compel a speaker to think twice about opportunistic or false statements and the damage such rhetoric can do. . . . Food disparagement laws, as tools to make more honest our national discussion of food safety, are the ultimate consumer protection."

The AIF speaks more bluntly in literature aimed at farmers: "Animal rights activists . . . threaten the survival of today's farmers and ranchers. . . . It's time to fight back! . . . through advertising, elementary school programs, publications and videos, news media outreach and public opinion research."

Rather than push for legislation at the national level, the food industry has worked quietly state-by-state while avoiding a controversial national debate. So far, thirteen state legislatures have approved product disparagement laws--Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Texas. Other states are considering similar measures.

Wesley J. Smith is a conservative columnist and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute (D.I.), [1] a think tank and conservative political, policy, economic, religious and industry lobbying organization. It is best known as the driving force behind the Intelligent design movement. Mr. Smith promotes the Discovery Institute's positions through editorials featured on D.I. [2], [3] and other conservative publications.

Mr. Smith's wife, Debra J. Saunders, occasionally writes op-ed columns in the San Francisco Chronicle on issues which overlap with D.I's agenda, though she openly discloses her relationship with Smith and his role with D.I.[4], [5] See also Debra J. Saunders.

Member organizations of D.I. include the Fur Commission. [6]

Contents��[hide]

Terri Schiavo

Mr. Smith closely followed the Terri Schiavo case in 2005 and wrote frequent editorials on the topic. [7]

Quoting industry reps & targeting activists

Smith has criticized People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and animal rights in D.I. articles [8], [9] as well as other conservative publications. Some of Mr. Smith's editorials and blog reference industry reps such as David Martosko and the front group Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF):

"Doesn't the establishment of legal rights for these animals also debase humanity? At the end of the day, it is probably impossible to guarantee both "rights" for animals and disease cures for humans. I see siding with my own species as the only compassionate option. David Martosko" [10]

CCF does not advocate for "humanity". CCF sponsors have included Phillip Morris, Monsanto, Tyson Foods and Dean Foods. These corporations have a long history of gross animal welfare violations, human rights, health and environmental abuses. See also Richard Berman cares about animals: clients exposed.

According to an editorial in the National Review:

"In 2001, S. L. Davis of the Department of Animal Sciences at Oregon State University, Corvallis, wrote a paper claiming that the diet most likely to result in the deaths of the fewest animals would be beef, lamb, and dairy — not vegan. Davis found a study that measured mouse population density per hectare in grain fields both before and after harvest and estimated a harvest casualty rate of ten mice per hectare. Then, he multiplied that figure by 120 million hectares of farmland in the U.S.; meaning that 1.2 billion mice would die each year in food production if America became a wholly vegan country."[11]

Livestock consumes 47% of the soy and 60% of the corn produced in the US. [12] According the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), livestock use 30 % of the earth’s entire land surface. 70% of former forests in the Amazon have been turned over to grazing. [13] Approximately 10 billion land animals are raised and killed for food every year in the U.S. (over a million an hour).[14]

See also meat & dairy industry, section 5 & animals raised & hunted for food.

Green baiting

According to another NR editorial :

"In the Netherlands, an animal-rights extremist allegedly assassinated a candidate for parliament, perhaps because he defended pig farming in a debate with animal-rights activists. ....You have to be especially dangerous and potentially violent to warrant attention from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Cofounded by renowned civil-rights attorney Morris Dees, the group is best known for its successful legal struggle against hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and Aryan Nation. One of the center's most useful projects is the respected SPLC Intelligence Report (IR), a quarterly magazine that offers in-depth analysis of political extremism in the United States. The Fall 2002 IR exposes the depth of the threat of ARL terrorism — earning ALF, ELF, and SHAC a level of infamy usually reserved for American extremist groups such as the KKK, Aryan Nation, and the American Nazi party." [15]

However, according to interviews:

"Pim Fortuyn had reasonable views on the bio-industry," Pigs in Need, an animal rights group, said in a statement. 'Fortuyn believed that new agricultural policy needed to be animal friendly.'"

According to a recent book by Pim Fortuyn:

"Animal welfare must be a priority and we need to switch to less industrial production methods." [16]

The assassination was attributed to Fortuyn's views on religion and immigration. [17], [18]

According to an editorial in the Weekly Standard:

"TERRORISM TAKES MANY FORMS. Recently, animal-rights terrorists have unleashed an organized campaign of violence and intimidation against animal industries and their service companies--such as banks, auditing companies, and insurance brokers. ...One of the most active of these groups is Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), which is dedicated to driving Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) out of business because it tests drugs on animals. ..Law enforcement is on heightened alert to protect against animal-rights terrorism, and legislation (H.R. 4239) is wending its way through the House of Representatives to make such lawlessness more easily prosecuted. These are necessary steps." [19]

The only attempted murder in the history of the U.S. animal rights movement was coordinated by corporate provocateurs.[20]

Between 1977 and January 2007, there were over 13,000 incidents targeting abortion clinics and doctors, including 7 murders. There have been over 2,100 acts of union violence between 1991 and 2001, including bombings, shootings and near fatal injuries. In 2004 alone, there were over 4,500 racially motivated incidents in the U.S. There were 1,480 incidents based on religious bias and another 1,460 based on sexual orientation. Animal and environmental groups have committed far fewer acts, yet are labeled "terrorists", while those who shoot abortion doctors or burn down synagogues are perceived only as felons.[21]

Animal activists who have been injured or killed

However, there have been a number of incidents involving victimized animal activists who have been injured or killed.

AETA (HR 4239)

HR 4239 or the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), became law on November 27, 2006 after receiving President Bush’s signature. [22]Critics have characterized this legislation as being designed to protect the financial interests of corporations, chill dissent and discourage legal activism. [23] AETA terrorism charges cannot be brought against someone whose target is "unaffiliated with an animal enterprise", which violate constitutional rights to equal legal protection. [24]

See also AETA, section 7.

Huntingdon Life Sciences & SHAC campaign

Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) is the 3rd largest contract research organization (CRO) in the world and the largest animal testing facility in Europe. Firms hire CRO's to conduct animal toxicity tests for agrochemicals, petrochemicals, household products, pharmaceutical drugs and toxins. HLS has a long history of gross animal welfare violations. They are the only laboratory in the United Kingdom ever to have their license revoked by the government.[25] The Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) campaign is an international campaign with groups in the UK, USA, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and many other countries who target HLS and the global corporations which support them. [26]

See also Huntingdon Life Sciences & animal testing, section 3 on product (toxicity) testing.

Articles & sources

SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ Bioethics, Discovery Institute, accessed December 2008
  2. ↑ Wesley J. Smith Liberation Theology The twisted thinking motivating PETA Discovery Institute, August 4, 2005
  3. ↑ Wesley J. Smith The Most Tasteless PR Campaign Ever: PETA Outdoes Itself, Discovery Institute, March 2003
  4. ↑ Debra J. Saunders Better Dead than Fed, Discovery Institute, June 2005
  5. ↑ Debra J. Saunders, American Terrorist, Discovery Institute, June 2007
  6. ↑ What is Fur Commission USA?, Fur Commission, accessed June 2009
  7. ↑ Bioethicist Wesley J. Smith Condemn's Judge's Ruling in Schiavo Case, Discovery Institute News, March 2005
  8. ↑ Wesley J. Smith Liberation Theology The twisted thinking motivating PETA D.I., August 2005
  9. ↑ Wesley J. Smith The Most Tasteless PR Campaign Ever: PETA Outdoes Itself, D.I., March 2003
  10. ↑ Wesley J. Smith The Wisdom of David Martosko, Secondhand Smoke, April 2008
  11. ↑ Wesley J. Smith Veganism is Murder, National Review, July 2008
  12. ↑ The Issues: Corn and Soy, Sustainable Table, accessed December 2009
  13. ↑ Livestock a major threat to environment: Remedies urgently needed, United Nations, FAO Newsroom, Rome, November 2006.
  14. ��� About Farm Animals and Factory Farming, Humane Society of the United States, 2005
  15. ↑ Wesley J. Smith Terrorists, Too Exposing animal-rights terrorism, National Review, October 2002
  16. ↑ Environmental Activist Charged in Dutch Politician's Assassination, Associated Press, May 2002
  17. ↑ Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Joan Clements Fortuyn killed 'to protect Muslims, Telegraph.co.uk, March 2003
  18. ↑ Andrew Osborn I shot Fortuyn for Dutch Muslims, says accused, Free Republic, March 2003
  19. ↑ Wesley J. Smith Animal Planet, Animal-rights terrorism is on the increase and animal-rights activists aren't doing enough to stop it., Weekly Standard, May 2006
  20. ↑ Will Potter How Corporate Provacateurs Made Fran Trutt an “Animal Rights Terrorist”, Mar 25th, 2009
  21. ↑ Charlotte Laws, PhD, AETA and the New Green Scare: Are You the Terrorist Next Door?, Counterpunch, January 2007
  22. ↑ Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, Govtrack.us 109th Congress, 2005-2006
  23. ↑ Will Potter House Passes AETA With Little Discussion or Dissent: Notes from the House Floor “Debate”, Greenisthenewred.com, Nov 2006
  24. ↑ Charlotte Laws, PhD, AETA and the New Green Scare: Are You the Terrorist Next Door?, Counterpunch, January 2007
  25. ↑ Dr. Jerry Vlasik Testimony of Jerry Vlasik, M.D.: Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (“SHAC”) Eco-terrorism, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works, October 2005
  26. ↑ Introduction to SHAC, SHAC.net, accessed May 2009

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