Animal Rights Activists Are Acquitted in Smithfield Piglet Case

“The defamation campaign has caused reputation and public image damage to Costco and Smithfield,” prosecutors wrote.

Justin Marceau, a law professor at the University of Denver and author of the book “Beyond Cages: Animal Law and Criminal Punishment,” described the prosecution as an unsubtle attempt to chill the growing movement of activists who use subterfuge and hidden cameras to document conditions on factory farms.

Agricultural-producing states have been particularly aggressive in their efforts to quash the use of undercover footage by activists and whistle-blowers. In recent years, nearly a dozen states have passed so-called “ag-gag” laws that criminalize the taking of unauthorized video or photos on animal farms, though courts in recent years have struck down five of them as unconstitutional. Professor Marceau led the legal effort that overturned Utah’s law in 2017.

“Prosecutors would have you believe this case is about burglary, but in reality, it’s a case about whether people can rescue animals in dire conditions that are now commonplace in our food system,” he said. “I can’t think of a more significant animal law case in recent history.”

The defendants, members of the group Direct Action Everywhere, or DxE, were seeking to document the farm’s use of gestation crates, the metal enclosures for pregnant sows that critics say are cramped and inherently cruel. Smithfield had vowed to end their use by 2017, but Mr. Hsiung said there were thousands of them at Circle Four Farms.

“The agonizing screams of pigs confined to these cages were so loud we couldn’t hear each other talk,” Mr. Hsiung said. The two piglets they took on their way out, he said, were sick and malnourished and would have most likely ended up in a dumpster.

Jim Monroe, a Smithfield spokesman, said the company had largely phased out the use of gestation crates and was committed to improving the welfare of the tens of millions of pigs it raised each year. “Any deviation from our high standards for animal care is counterproductive to this mission,” he said in an email.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/08/science/animals-rights-piglets-smithfield.html