Feature Archives

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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Recent Related Indybay Features: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Since 1999, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) activists in the UK, the US, and elsewhere have campaigned against Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). HLS is a contract animal research lab with one facility in New Jersey and two in England. Their practices were exposed by SHAC in five different undercover investigations. Video footage showed workers punching beagles in the face, dissecting live monkeys, falsifying scientific data, and, activists claim, violating countless sections of the Animal Welfare Act. Businesses that did business with HLS were included in the campaign. Home demonstrations were one of many brazen tactics used by the group to discourage companies from continuing to with HLS. Numerous businesses did stop working with HLS over time and, in 2005, HLS indefinitely postponed a planned listing with the New York Stock Exchange.

After Congressional hearings brought governmental pressure to bear, a New Jersey federal grand jury in 2004 indicted seven individuals and the organization Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA on charges of animal enterprise terrorism under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 (formerly known as the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act). The law singles out property crimes against businesses that use animals and treats them more seriously than similar offences against other organizations. This is the first time anyone has ever been tried under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act. Many fear the convictions have set a precedent for animal protection campaigners throughout the country. In fact, numerous other environmental and animal activists are currently facing indictments and grand jury subpoenas in a recent massive governmental sweep in the U.S. that has come be known at the "Green Scare".

All of the SHAC defendants were involved in some capacity in the campaign to close Huntingdon Life Sciences. Originally, seven individuals were charged, along with the organization Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty USA. Charges against one activist were later dropped. None of those convicted are alleged to have carried out any of the substantive crimes laid out in the indictment — from property damage to intimidation. Rather, the six were convicted of running the SHAC USA website that allowed others access to information that could be used in such crimes. While one of those convicted now admits, "Some of the things I've done have been just rude, and I wouldn't do them again," all six remaining activists face years in federal prison for "crimes" in which no one was hurt. Four of the six are currently under house arrest while awaiting sentencing in June, and the SHAC7 Support Committee and attorneys are continuing to work to have the remaining two defendants released as well.

Recent Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 · SHAC Video: Time for Action 2

SHAC7 Support | SHAC UK

Previous Indybay Feature on the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Case

Foster Farms is the largest poultry producer in the Western United States, slaughtering five million chickens each week. It has thousands of employees and boasts annual revenue of $1.5 billion from its poultry operations. East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) requested a tour of the company’s chicken farms and was denied. So, EBAA conducted an undercover investigation of Foster Farms' broiler (chicken meat) operations in Merced County, California's top broiler producing county and home of the company’s headquarters. While Foster Farms publicly claims that the "climate is ideal" for their chickens, EBAA found "systematic animal neglect at Foster Farms’ poultry operations." EBAA investigators rescued 39 sick and injured chickens. Following the investigative rescue, EBAA filed an animal cruelty complaint with Merced County Animal Control. The results of the investigation were released online last September when EBAA unveiled fosterfacts.net, a website dedicated to documenting Foster Farms' treatment of its chickens and workers. In October, hundreds of Foster Farms' workers went on strike at the company's largest chicken plant in Livingston. These workers claimed unfair labor practices ranging from low wages to hazardous working conditions. Interviews with a number of these striking workers were posted at fosterfacts.net.

In February, Foster Farms directly responded to EBAA's website by issuing a "cease and desist" order demanding that "EBAA immediately cancel or transfer the fosterfacts.net website to Foster Farms" and “refrain from any libelous or slanderous activity toward Foster Farms” by March 10. EBAA refuses to back down, claiming their documentation speaks for itself. While Foster Farms continues to threaten litigation, it has not as of yet actually filed as lawsuit. Unfortunately, earlier this year, one Foster Farms' employee was seriously injured and another was killed on the job. The workers' cause did move forward in early April, though, when a federal judge ordered Foster Farms to finally recognize the union at the company's Livingston plant.

Regardless of Foster Farms’ next move, EBAA will continue speaking out, and states that, “The mission of our organization is to reveal cruelty of agriculture in California, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Read More: 1 | 2 | 3

Previous Indybay Features on Foster Farms' Treatment of Animals and Workers

Animal Rights on the Farm (ARF) continued its campaign against Stanford University's animal experiments with a demonstration on Friday, February 10 at the University’s Research Animal Facility (RAF). Stanford undergraduates, law students, and graduate students converged on the RAF to voice their opposition to Stanford’s experiments involving up to 109,000 primates, dogs, mice, and numerous other types of animals. ARF seeks increased transparency and accountability for experiments at Stanford, since the private university is not subject to the California Public Records Act or the Freedom of Information Act. ARF also calls on the University to begin its shift to more humane alternatives by eliminating what it considers the worst experiments, such as cocaine research on adolescent squirrel monkeys, maternal deprivation research on infant squirrel monkeys, and sleep deprivation research on monkeys, rats, and mice.

Full Report and Photos · More Info: 1 | 2