Feature Archives

On August 17th, Nadia Winstead reported, "Today I appeared before the federal grand jury. Before going in the grand jury room I was granted immunity. I respectfully declined to answer all questions asked of me. After 30 minutes of questioning I was excused and able to go home. My lawyer and I aren't sure what will happen next, but I will send out updates as the situation unfolds. I thank you all for your continued support and dedication to resisting grand juries."

Animal Liberation activists from the central valley joined forces in five days of protests, covering nine shows Wednesday through Sunday, against Ringling Bros. (Feld Entertainment Inc.) Circus, calling it the "cruelest show on earth." A coalition of Fresno activists, Fresno Voices for Animals, was joined by the Modesto-based Direct Action Anti-Authoritarian collective to call attention to Ringling's continuing use and abuse of wild animals in its "family based" extravaganza.

Andronico's Market claims it is "committed to the highest standards of animal husbandry." Yet the Bay Area grocery chain still sells eggs from chickens confined to battery cages. East Bay Animal Advocates has called for a week of action at Andronico's locations in Palo Alto and Berkeley, Sunday, July 16 through Thursday, July 20. The campaign will encourage Andronico's to adopt an exclusively cage-free egg policy as other socially responsible grocery chains already have.

At the two-day SF Pride Celebration in San Francisco on June 24th and 25th, plant-powered volunteers from Bay Area Vegetarians staffed a Veg Education & Outreach booth. People seemed hungry for veg info and crowded the booth to learn about vegetarianism, vegan cooking, and factory farming. Through the use of a unique battery cage display and other materials, tens of thousands of people learned that chickens are debeaked and intensively confined in cages to produce eggs. Leafleting by volunteers throughout the area was also successful. Thousands of booklets and pamphlets were distributed to receptive passers-by.

Local grassroots group, Citizens For Cruelty-Free Entertainment, organized educational leafletings at all of the Circus Vazquez shows in San Jose in June. The group had leafleters at all the entrances each day to educate patrons about what they call the cruelty of using animals in circuses. Tigers are kept in cages just big enough to turn around and horses and camels are kept in small stalls on concrete parking lots. The activists report that violence and intimidation are standard training and handling practices. They urged the public to not support circuses that use animals — and to tell the circus they will not come back until the circus is animal-free.

On June 4th, East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) and the Direct Action Anti-Authoritarians (DAAA) Collective demonstrated outside of Costco Clubs in Modesto and Merced. The activists “fostered compassion” by distributing literature to raise awareness about what the activists call Foster Farms’ inhumane treatment of chickens. As one of the top sellers of Foster Farms products, Costco is being urged to conduct animal welfare audits of their main poultry supplier. A recent investigation by EBAA revealed that the company violates animal cruelty laws and misleads the public through its marketing.

On Saturday, May 23, In Defense of Animals and Citizens for Cruelty-Free Entertainment protested in front of the ticketbooths at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo after winning a Federal Court ruling that stopped Six Flags from banning protestors on Six Flags' grounds. Six Flags and local police previously had denied animal rights activists the right to demonstrate despite the fact that the theme park is located on publicly-owned property.