On January 26th, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Wesley ruled that the Animal Liberation Front is not a "gang." The government had tried to find two animal rights protestors guilty of being "gang members." Judge Wesley stated that the prosecution's expert Lt. Butte had "misled the grand jury. The ALF does not meet the legal requirements to be considered a gang. Their primary goal is to save animals, not commit crimes." That charge was dismissed though other charges remain.

This ruling stems from the preliminary hearing in the California case against Linda Faith Greene and Kevin Richard Olliff. Greene and Olliff are animal rights activists who protested and demonstrated against animal researchers. The alleged victims were animal researchers at UCLA, Dr. Lynn Fairbanks and Dr. Dario Ringach. They also protested against an employee of POM Wonderful. POM uses animal research in their advertising to try to support claims that their juice helps men with erectile dysfunction. Their trial will commence March 3, 2010.

Read More | SupportKevin.org

On October 13th, two Minneapolis activists were subpoenaed to appear before an Iowa Grand Jury, ostensibly investigating a November 2004 Animal Liberation Front raid of a University of Iowa psychology department animal laboratory. On October 15th, 2009, both Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth refused to testify before the Grand Jury. Carrie Feldman concluded her remarks to the Grand Jury on October 15th as such: "Today my voice may waver, as I stand alone in this room. But I know I speak with the voice of every one of my friends, loved ones, and comrades when I say this: We will not be intimidated. We will not cooperate. I have nothing more to say to you."

Last Tuesday, November 17th, both again refused to testify and were then ordered jailed for contempt by a federal district judge. On that charge, they stand to remain in jail for up to 11 months until the Grand Jury completes its term. On Thursday, November 19th, Minneapolis grand jury resister Scott DeMuth was additionally charged with conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism in Davenport, Iowa federal court. This is the third time activists have now been charged under the AETA, all of whom have been charged in 2009.

Read More: DeMuth Charged with "Animal Enterprise Terrorism" But Could Possibly Be Released Next Week | Two Grand Jury Resisters Jailed in Iowa | Iowa Grand Jury to Jail Minneapolis Resisters Carrie Feldman and Scott DeMuth for 11 Mo. | Minnesota Activist Stands Up to Grand Jury Investigating Iowa U. ALF Raid in 2004

Support Carrie and Scott! | Updates at Twin Cities IMC | Green Is The New Red | NoAETA.org

See Also: The ALF Strikes in Iowa! 401 Animals Rescued! Labs Smashed!

Related Indybay Coverage: Federal Authorities Arrest Four Bay Area Animal Protesters | Support the AETA 2 (Utah) | What You Should Know About Grand Juries (2008) | Call for Solidarity with Animal Advocates and Others Subpoenaed (2005)

An acrobat trained in China kept kids on the edge of their seats with juggling, unicycling, and handstands; the Raging Grannies turned people of all ages into kids again leading them in songs with vegetarian themes. These and other stage performances were punctuated with lectures by renowned vegetarian authorities in San Francisco's County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park on October 3 and 4. Other highlights of the 10th annual World Veg Festival included cooking demos, vegetarian friendly clothing booths, and international taste treats.

Presenter Howard Lyman told an enthralled audience why he is a cattle rancher but won't eat meat himself, and John Robbins provided tips for longevity from his book Healthy at 100. Other speakers promoted vegan or vegetarian diets, sharing tips for home cooking and gardening for maximum nutritional benefit.

The San Francisco Vegetarian Society and In Defense of Animals together presented the yearly event to commemorate World Vegetarian Day. Both co-sponsors manned heavily trafficked tables selling shopping bags and T-shirts with clever quips and gave advice to festival patrons mesmerized by the variety of booths, entertainers and demonstrations. In Defense of Animals is a national, non-profit organization based in San Rafael, dedicated to protecting and advocating for the rights, welfare, and habitats of animals. The San Francisco Vegetarian Society was founded in 1968 and promotes the nutritional, ethical, social and environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet.

Photos: 1 | 2 | San Francisco Vegetarian Society | In Defense of Animals

On Friday, September 11th, activists demonstrated in front of the Staples office supplies store in on Cleveland Avenue in Santa Rosa. Staples was targeted because they have been documented using unmarked vans to deliver office supplies to Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). In recent years, HLS have been infiltrated and exposed multiple times for animal cruelty, including workers punching beagle puppies in the face. The protesters' goal was "to show Staples that if you deal with HLS, you deal with us."

People for Animal Liberation write: We unfurled the banner and began chanting to get the word across that we were there to protest the murder of 500 animals in the name of mock science. They have blood on their hands for their ties with Huntingdon Life Sciences. 4 People then entered the store and ran through the aisles chanting "Puppykillers". Knocking merchandise off the shelves, and staging a lockdown at the stores entrance, until the police came. No one was arrested.

Photos | Announcement | Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC)

Mark Hawthorne writes: Animal Place, an education center and sanctuary for farmed animals, is pleased to announce that in addition to our new location in Grass Valley, we will retain our current property in Vacaville, California. Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous supporter, Animal Place will keep our 60-acre location, transforming it into Rescue Ranch, which will serve as an innovative adoption and placement facility for farmed animals. Animals who arrive at Rescue Ranch will be quarantined, given veterinary care, rehabilitated and then placed in pre-approved homes.

The Ranch will be dedicated to finding loving homes for easily adoptable animals, such as chickens, sheep, and goats, though we will also be able to place pigs and cows under the right circumstances. With our history of successfully re-homing rescued “battery” hens, however, and with more and more people enjoying them as companion animals, we will likely focus our efforts on chickens. “Backyard chicken flocks are becoming increasingly popular,” says Animal Place Executive Director Kim Sturla. “We previously have rescued and placed thousands of hens who were retired from the egg industry. Instead of these birds being sent to slaughter, as they usually are, our hope is that many will come to Animal Place’s Rescue Ranch and then placed in new, loving homes.”

We hope to establish a network with farms, shelters and other rescue groups to maximize the options for the thousands of farmed animals who are abused, neglected and abandoned nationwide while we promote the idea that farmed animals can be companion animals. In addition, we will revive our dog-rescue program.

Read More | AnimalPlace.org

On July 17, 2009, People for Animal Liberation demonstrated in front of the Kentucky Fried Chicken in Healdsburg, California, just north of Santa Rosa. Demonstrators held signs and banners with a variety of slogans. Chants included "What do we want?? Animal Liberation!! When do we wwant it?? Now!!!" and "Colonel Sander! SHAME ON YOU! David Novak, SHAME ON YOU!" Activists report there were a lot of positive responses, but also some negative responses. Street theater included one activist climbing into a guinea pig cage, from which they were pulled out of the cage and murdered.

Photos | KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

On July 13th, defense attorneys for Joseph Buddenberg, Maryam Khajavi, Nathan Pope and Adriana Stumpo (the AETA 4) presented oral arguments on their motion to strike down the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA). The AETA 4 are being represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), and other well-respected civil rights attorneys, including Tony Serra. The defense demanded that AETA be struck down as unconstitutional before Judge Ronald Whyte of the United States District Court, Northern District of California in San Jose.

The AETA is being used for the first time since its passage by Congress in 2006 to do exactly what civil rights advocates feared it would do - criminalize activities protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The oral arguments presented on July 13th were not about the allegations as directly applied to the AETA 4, but rather that the whole case should be dismissed now because AETA itself is unconstitutional.

"The AETA is so overbroad and vague that picketers protesting labor practices at WalMart who mount a successful boycott could be charged with animal enterprise terrorism because WalMart sells lunch meat," said CCR Cooperating Attorney Matthew Strugar. "And it is impossible to know from the language of the law whether your activities might be covered. The AETA is unconstitutional, and if it remains on the books it will be a genuine threat to free speech."

The court did not make any decison at this time. The next court hearing is scheduled for Monday, September 14th. Read more

Also see: Petition to Congress: Repeal the AETA | Rights Attorneys File Motion Saying AETA Indictment in Violation of First Amendment | Activists Arrested for Chalking Sidewalks, Protesting with Bandanas, and Leaflet Distribution

On May 21st, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) joined in a defense attorneys’ motion in the U.S. District Court in San Jose to dismiss U.S.A. v. Buddenberg, a federal prosecution of four animal rights activists in California—known as the AETA 4—for alleged conspiracy to commit animal enterprise terrorism. The four have been charged with conduct that includes First Amendment protected activities such as protesting, chalking the sidewalk, chanting and leafleting. The motion asks the Court to strike down the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) as unconstitutional.

“To characterize protest and speech as terrorist activities is ludicrous,” said CCR cooperating attorney Matthew Strugar. “And it is not just animal rights activists who are in danger here. The AETA is so broad and unclear it could be used to suppress lawful protests and boycotts by any activists across the spectrum, no matter what the issue. The law must be struck down.”

Passed by Congress in November, 2006, the AETA is aimed at suppressing speech and advocacy by criminalizing First Amendment-protected activities such as protests, boycotts, picketing and whistleblowing. It targets animal rights activists, but includes language so broad and vague it could be used to prosecute labor activists who organize a successful boycott of Wal-Mart, or union folks who picket a university cafeteria. Pushed through Congress by a powerful lobby of corporations and research institutions, the AETA is an unconstitutional law, because it criminalizes a broad swath of protected First Amendment activities and is so unclear as to fail to give people notice of whether or not their conduct is lawful. Read more

The Center for Constitutional Rights created an online petition for people to write their senator and representative to demand that they repeal the AETA.

see also: Obama administration targets environmental and animal rights activists as eco-terrorists | Government files responses to AETA4 motion to dismiss

Previous coverage: Activists Arrested for Chalking Sidewalks, Protesting with Bandanas, and Leaflet Distribution

Buffalo Field Campaign volunteer patrols have been documenting the Montana Department of Livestock, Yellowstone National Park, Gallatin National Forest and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks agents carry out massive and relentless hazing operations, harassing and harming America's last wild bison population.

On May 12th, agents were set to haze bison within Yellowstone National Park to "make room" for the bison that would be hazed off of Horse Butte. But Mother Nature had different plans: one group of bison the agents planned to target consisted of forty bulls who would follow none of the agents' orders. An incredible hail storm assisted and the haze was called off for the day. Local DOL agent Shane Grube's foot was broken after his horse stepped on it.

Every day of the week agents chased bison family groups, including newborn calves and pregnant mothers, off of the south side of the Madison River, and on May 14th they set their sights on cattle-free Horse Butte. In fact, all of the Gallatin National Forest lands where the buffalo roam are cattle free, yet livestock interests insist on assaulting them with mounted cowboys, ATVs, local and federal law enforcement and the DOL's helicopter.

Read More, Photos & Video

The animal advocacy group Mercy for Animals recently did an undercover investigation at New England's largest egg factory farm, Quality Egg of New England in Turner, Maine. The hidden camera video shot in early 2009 provided a glimpse behind the closed doors of one of the nation's leading egg producers, exposing the truth behind battery cage egg production — what Mercy for Animals calls "heinous cruelty to animals." As a result of the investigation, the state police and Maine Department of Agriculture raided the farm on April 1st.

Mercy for Animals's investigation, highlighted in a 5-minute video, revealed: rotting carcasses in cages with live hens still laying eggs for human consumption; workers and managers killing birds by grabbing their necks and swinging them around in circles; supervisors and workers throwing live birds into trash cans; birds suffering from broken bones, bloody open wounds, and untreated infections; hens confined in tiny wire cages so small they were unable to stretch their wings, move freely or engage in other basic behaviors; birds trapped in the wire of their cages or under the feeding trays without access to food or water; and management and workers kicking live hens into manure pits.

Read More with Video | Mercy for Animals updates

Some Previous Related Indybay Features: Prop 2 Passage Represents Landmark Victory for Animals in California | Are Tumors, Abscesses, and Downed Cows in your Hamburger? | Largest Beef Recall Ever After Video Exposes Downed Cow Abuse | Historic Egg Farm Cruelty Case Ends in Acquittal | Activists Score Big Victory in Fight Against Battery Cages | "Wegmans Cruelty" Filmmaker Sentenced to Six Months for Trespassing | Foster Farms Threatens East Bay Animal Advocates | Egg Industry Battery Cages Exposed by Activists

Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, writes: The Oceans are like the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg. As long as it was alive it laid a golden egg each day but then the greedy farmer decided to kill it to get all the gold inside and found nothing and the Goose laid no more golden eggs because it was dead. For centuries, the oceans have fed humankind. But in the last century, human greed has raped and pillaged oceanic eco-systems remorsefully with an ecological ignorance that is staggeringly insane. I don't eat fish because I am an ecologist and I have seen the diminishment of fish in the seas all of my life.... We humans have waged an intensive and ruthless exploitation on practically every species of fish in the sea and they are disappearing. If we don't put an end to industrialized fishing vessels and heavy gear very soon, we will kill the oceans and in so doing, we will kill ourselves.... We are feeding fish to cats, pigs, and chickens, and we are sucking tens of thousands of small fish from the sea to feed larger fish raised in cages. House cats are eating more fish than seals; pigs are eating more fish than sharks; and factory-farmed chickens are eating more fish than puffins and albatross.

Read More | Sea Shepherd

Previous Related Indybay Feature: Sea Shepherd Returns From the Whale Wars