Tag: Activism Center at Wetlands Preserve

Animal Liberation Victoria Claims Activists Assaulted

On July 28, Animal Liberation Victoria released an odd press release claiming that members of its group had been assaulted while attempting to steal animals from an egg farm.

According to the press release, presented here in its entirety,

Meredith, Victoria – Three Animal Liberation Victoria (ALV) activists
today conducted a daring daylight raid at Happy Hens Egg World, in
Meredith. ALV have conducted 20 rescues at the property, each time
exposing horrific cruelty to animals. After about ten rescues farm
management began increasing security, with electrified fences and
trained guard dogs patrolling the property, so that the factory farm is
now a Dachau style concentration camp for the 220,000 battery hens
caged there. The electrified fence gate is open during daylight hours
for worker access.

Prior to being assaulted, the three ALV investigators observed battery
hens suffering severe feather loss crammed into rusty old cages. A
number of birds were also observed in the manure pits, without access
to food or water. After only five minutes of documenting these
conditions, the women were set upon by seven farm employees who started
physically assaulting them and pushing them along the length of the
dirty shed covered in dust and cobwebs.

The women asked the men to please let them go as they were happy to
leave the sheds. The violence escalated when one young man
approached rescue team member Debra Tranter from behind and put his
arms around her, grabbing and squeezing her breasts. Ms
Tranter screamed and fell to the ground at which time she was grabbed
by both her ankles and dragged along the filthy floor.

Police were called and took photographs of the injuries sustained by
the rescue team members, and took their statements. The rescue
team members are pressing for charges of sexual and physical assault,
in addition to charges of cruelty to animals, to be laid against the
farm and its employees.

Debra Tranter, a trained nurse and supervisor said outside the shed:
“For eleven years I’ve been coming to these sheds to document the
suffering of these birds. I’ve never been treated so violently. I kept
pleading to these angry males to please let me go as I was quite happy
to leave the sheds. I knew the hens were overcrowded and tormented in
their tiny cages. But the aggressive treatment of me today by those in
charge of these captive hens has only made me more determined to help
them.”

Patty Mark, ALV President, added: “The bruising and roughing up we
received today, highlights the extreme peril these birds are in. Not
only are they debeaked, featherless, and dying in tiny cages, but the
only ones there for them day to day are these violent and abusive men.
We’ve been campaigning against Happy Hens for eleven years and the
sheds were worse than ever. Today the police told us that two weeks ago
70,000 birds died after a mechanical breakdown. This property requires
urgent attention by legal authorities.”

Obviously any allegations of assault should be investigated by police, and if anyone knows anything about assault its Animal Liberation Victoria — Australian Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ chief Dr. Hugh Worth has hired bodyguards to protect him after an attempted assault carried out last October by Animal Liberation Victoria activists.

During a gala ball sponsored by the RSPCA in October 2004, three Animal Liberation Victoria activists threw red paint over Dr. Wirth because of longstanding disagreements between the RSPCA and Animal Liberation Victoria.

Animal Liberation Victoria dismissed Wirth’s concern with the assault against, with its vice-president Noah Hannibal explicitly justifying the attack,

If Hugh Wirth was as concerned with the suffering of animals as much as he is with overreacting to some washable red paint on his tuxedo, we would not have to take such drastic action to highlight the fact that the RSPCA is betraying the animals it has the statutory duty to protect.

Source:

Activists Sexually and Physically Assaulted During Battery Farm Raid. Press Release, Animal Liberation Victoria, July 28, 2005.

In Case You Can’t Attend the Grassroots Animal Rights Conference

Recently the Grassroots Animal Rights Conference, originally scheduled to take place in February at New York University, had to be pushed back to May and organizers are still looking for an alternative site.

In case you can’t make the May 2005 festivities, here are some of the sessions you’re going to miss out on,

Zines, Shows, Liner Notes: Communicating Animal Liberation Through Youth Culture and Music

Andy Stepanian, Long Island Animal Defense League

In the mid-late 1990s an entire new generation of activists joined the movement and created a massive groundswell of grassroots action. These young people were recruited not by an advertising campaign or outreach program of a national group, but through powerful pro-animal influences with the hardcore music subculture. Hardcore bands filled their albums, concerts, and liner notes with forceful cries for animal liberation. At the same time youth-based grassroots groups like the various Animal Defense League chapters became regular fixtures through their information tables at hardcore shows. While this particular trend has faded a bit, many new opportunities now exist to harness music and youth culture for animal liberation. Learn how your group can tap into this youthful energy from an activist who has had great success in keeping animal issues alive in the youth culture of Long Island, NY.

Coming Out Vegetarian/Coming Out Gay: Making Alliances

Marti Kheel, Feminists for Animal Rights
Pattrice Jones, Global Hunger Alliance

The lesbian and gay movements are logical allies of the animal rights movement. In this workshop, I underline their similarities and the potential for building alliances. Using an episode from the Simpson cartoon series I show how meat dominance and male dominance are intimately intertwined. This will be a participatory workshop and people will be encouraged to share personal stories and offer strategies for making links between the two movements. Since the animal advocacy movement is often viewed as lacking in humor, one of the intentions of this workshop is to show how humor and popular culture can be used to make serious points.

Commonality of Human and Non-Human Animal Oppression

Marjorie Spiegel, author, The Dreaded Comparison
Pattrice Jones, Eastern Shore Chicken Sanctuary
Merritt Clifton, Animal People
Adam Weissman, Activism Center at Wetlands Preserve
Charles Patterson, author, Eternal Treblinka

Explore the intersections between human and nonhuman exploitation. Marjorie Spiegel will address the disturbing similarities between human and animal slavery. Pattrice Jones will explore patriarchy and its link to animal abuse and all forms of exploitation. Pattrice will also frame the discussion, making the case for why looking at intersections of exploitation matters. Citing statistical data, Merritt Clifton will demonstrate a link between animal exploitation and domestic violence. Taking this one step further, Adam Weissman will explore the similarities between the property status of children and animals, exploring John Holt’s insight that our society frames children as “love slaves” and “super pets.” Charles Patterson will draw on years of experience as a Holocaust educator to draw the link between Nazi genocide and the institutional exploitation of nonhuman animals.

Ecofeminism and Animal Liberation

Marti Kheel, Feminists for Animal Rights
Helen Matthews, Boston Ecofeminist Action
Pattrice Jones, Global Hunger Alliance

Ecofeminists believe that speciesism and sexism are so closely linked that many theorists and activists believe them to be simply two aspects of the same underlying problem. Women and animals, along with land and children, have historically been seen as the property of male heads of households. Patriarchy and pastoralism cannot be separated, because they are justified and perpetuated by the same ideologies and practices. Learn about the ideas and action strategies of action strategies of ecofeminist activists.

Sounds like fun.

Source:

Grassroots Animal Rights Conference Agenda. Accessed: 02/02/2005.