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In the month of May, a severe backlash by authorities against animal rights activists has arisen in response to on-going campaigns against Huntingdon Life Sciences, GlaxoSmithKline, Oxford University and other animal exploiters. One security analyst was widely reported to say he thought the UK was like "the Afghanistan of animal rights extremism." The government has branded more extreme activists "thugs and terrorists." Prime Minister Tony Blair, in a move many interpret as an attempt to bolster his low public ratings, got in on the action and has focused lately on law and order issues, declared that it is time to act against animal rights protesters, and touted his signing of a pro-vivisection petition.

Wegmans Food Market has 70 stores in five East Coast states. The grocery chain produces its own eggs under the Wegmans name at a massive complex with 750,000 egg-laying hens in upstate New York. The activist group Compassionate Consumers contacted Wegmans to try to discuss the conditions at Wegmans Egg Farm. After the company dismissed the activists's concerns, members of Compassionate Consumers set out on their own to capture actual footage from inside the farm and create a film based on their experience.

MJG Entertainment, Inc's Circus Gatti, based in Hemet, California, operates approximately 450 circuses in 150 towns each year. The performances include acrobats, jugglers, a high-wire act and captive wildlife such as horses, tigers and elephants which are trained to entertain young children and their adults. On May 20th and 21st, Circus Gatti brought their show to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds for a Watsonville Police benefit.

Animal rights activists were at the County Fairgrounds in Watsonville holding signs, passing out flyers in english and spanish and speaking with circus-goers about the sad life of circus animals. On May 21st, activists were able to outreach to almost everyone in attendance. Most people were very receptive to learning about the lifestyles and living conditions of circus animals. Many people said they were sorry they decided to go to the circus, they would not have gone if they had known about the animals and they would not return next year. Read more and view photos

On Sunday, May 14th, activists gathered at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago restaurant in Palo Alto to protest the cruel treatment of veal calves, whose flesh Puck serves. The protest coincided with Mother’s Day to highlight the plight of calves, who are separated from their mothers at very young ages to be turned into veal. The protestors distributed leaflets about veal production and held signs urging customers to say no to veal.

Wolfgang Puck has refused to stop serving this inhumane and decadent item, and also serves foie gras, the artificially fattened livers of force-fed ducks. When representatives from Farm Sanctuary worked to educate Mr. Puck and his affiliates about the plight of veal calves, they responded with misinformation, excuses, and ultimately, silence. Read more

Claude Marks & Kelah Bott, in Fault Lines #16, write:
Recent crackdowns on the animal rights and environmental justice movements have left many activists feeling that their communities are under siege. From the prosecution of the SHAC 7 to the arrests of thirteen individuals for arsons committed over a ten-year span, a war is being waged against these movements by the U.S. government. While all of this may seem terrifying in its unfamiliarity to younger activists, the tactics being employed by the FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force are anything but new. Whisperings of ‘COINTELPRO’ have appeared in various articles about the backlash against eco-activism, but what does this generation really know about the Counter-Intelligence Program aimed at groups such as the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the American Indian Movement (AIM)? Today’s activists are heirs to a history of social and political battles from wars that are not yet over. Without seeing today’s struggles for animal rights and environmental justice in a broader historical and social context, we run the risk not only of repeating painful lessons of the past, but of isolating ourselves and weakening our movements.

Read More in the April-May 2006 issue of Fault Lines

Recent Indybay Coverage of Grand Juries, Arrests, and Other Anti-Activist Actions: SF Grand Jury Targets G8 Protest | SHAC7 Convicted | Government's "Case" Against Rod Coronado | 11 Indicted in Latest Round of FBI Environmental Witch Hunt | Three Arrested in Auburn, Accused of Planning ELF Actions | Animal Activists Subpoenaed to Appear in San Francisco | Grand Jury in San Diego

To mark the 19th annual World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL), activists in San Francisco and at Stanford University held a variety of events to bring light to the thousands of animals utilized in research facilities in the Bay Area every year.

The Grand Jury Resistance Project and the Prison Literature Project will hold an event to send letters to those imprisoned in the current “Green Scare.” The Prison Letter Writing Café will be Tuesday April 25th 2006 at 7:00pm in Berkeley. Paper, envelopes and stamps will be provided, as well as prisoner bios. Help on how to write letters to prisoners, including specific prison regulations, tips and suggestions will also be available.

“Mail time is often the brightest part of a prisoner's day," organizers of the event said. "Letters help show that there is a whole movement of support outside the prison walls — and that they are not alone.”

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