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A state-convened working group is recommending a series of initial steps toward reducing whale entanglements in crab gear in California, including more monitoring and retrieval of lost fishing gear. The Dungeness Crab Fishing Gear Working Group was convened in September after the Center for Biological Diversity and other groups found that whale entanglements in 2014 and 2015 had reached historic highs.
A third complaint was filed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture against Santa Cruz Biotechnology, Inc. (SCBT) on August 7 for a violation of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The USDA's ongoing case against SCBT, one of the world’s largest research antibody suppliers, was heard by an administrative law judge from August 18-21.
The most recent complaint alleges that SCBT has “willfully violated” the AWA and “demonstrated bad faith by misleading” USDA personnel. This complaint also documents extreme suffering of goats, including one who suffered and was eventually euthanized with a captive bolt gun by veterinary tech personnel because no veterinarian was available.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) has led a hard-hitting campaign calling for the USDA to take firm action against SCBT. “We are hopeful that the USDA will put on a solid case utilizing the extensive documentation it has gathered and that the judge will recognize the grave nature of the alleged violations at SCBT, which have caused needless animal suffering,” said Cathy Liss, president of AWI. “We strongly believe that these USDA citations warrant severe penalties, including license revocation or suspension.”
 Read More | 8/18-8/21 Court Updates | Legal Complaint | Animal Welfare Institute
Previous Coverage: Dealer of Animal-Derived Antibodies Could Lose License || ALDF Lawsuit Against Santa Cruz Biotechnology Animal Testing Facility Gains Support || Federal Investigations Reveal Severe Neglect of Animals at Santa Cruz Biotechnology
A U.S. District Court has struck down Idaho’s “ag-gag” law as an unconstitutional attempt by the agriculture industry to silence journalists, animal advocates, and whistleblowers who expose cruel farming practices. The ruling — the first of its kind — spells trouble for the agriculture industry’s attempts in other states to outlaw photography and video recordings of animal welfare, workers’ rights, and environmental violations. The ag-gag law “gives agricultural facility owners veto power, allowing owners to decide what can and cannot be recorded, effectively turning them into state-backed censors able to silence unfavorable speech about their facilities,” Judge Lyn Winmill said in the ruling.
The lawsuit was brought by the Animal Legal Defense Fund and PETA, working with plaintiffs including undercover investigators, Farm Forward, and Will Potter as a journalist. A wide-range of organizations supported the lawsuit by filing amicus briefs. They represented food safety, environmental, labor, whistleblower, and journalism organizations.
“The overwhelming evidence gleaned from the legislative history indicates that § 18-7042 was intended to silence animal welfare activists, or other whistleblowers, who seek to publish speech critical of the agricultural production industry,” Winmill writes. “Many legislators made their intent crystal clear by comparing animal rights activists to terrorists….”
 Read More |
Idaho “Ag-Gag” Law Ruled Unconstitutional in Federal Court |
See Also:
Coalition Responds to Idaho’s Motion to Dimiss Ag Gag Lawsuit |
Groups Head to Court over Controversial Idaho “Ag Gag” Law
The year 2013 was a busy one for animal liberation actions across the U.S., primarily at businesses that breed and/or sell fur. That September, Los Angeles animal activists Tyler Lang and Kevin Johnson were arrested in rural Illinois, charged with felony "possession of burglary tools." Tyler served four months and was released. Kevin was sentenced to thirty months in jail and remains behind bars. In July 2014, both were charged with violating the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), a 2006 law that reclassified a wide range of petty criminal activity as “terrorism” if done in the name of harming the profits of animal enterprises. In June and July of 2015, Kevin and then Tyler pled guilty and currently await sentencing. SupportKevinandTyler.com
On July 24, 2015, the FBI arrested two more animal rights activists for allegedly freeing mink and other animals from fur farms, and vandalizing the property of animal-abusing businesses. Joseph Buddenburg and Nicole Kissane of Oakland were charged under AETA. The government alleges that since the summer of 2013 the two caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to corporations that they viewed as being cruel to animals. They are alleged to have freed 6,000 animals, including mink and bobcat, from fur farms in Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. They’re also alleged to have traveled the west coast of the U.S. and used super glue and glass etching fluid to vandalize the property of fur retailers in San Francisco, San Diego, and Minneapolis.
In 2009, Joseph Buddenburg was one of the first four people ever arrested under AETA, largely related to to free speech activism targeting animal research at the University of California. A year later, charges against the "AETA4" were dismissed.
A call-out for support for Joseph and Nicole went out for their court appearance on July 28 at the Oakland Federal Courthouse. At the hearing, Judge Ryu released Nicole from electronic monitoring and allowed her to travel but ordered that Joseph remain on home lockdown with continued monitoring. Their next scheduled court date is September 9 in San Diego.
 Court Support for Nicole and Joseph |
SupportNicoleandJoseph.com
Read More:
Two Oakland Activists Accused of Freeing Animals Are Charged as Terrorists |
DOJ Press Release and Indictment |
Oakland animal advocates accused of vandalism spree against fur industry |
Unlike the So-Called Left, Government and Industry Really Get Animal Rights |
 Crime and Punishment: Ben Rosenfeld & Animal Industry Lobbyist Debate Oakland AETA Arrests |
San Francisco fur shop vandalized |
New list of 92 fox farm addresses released by the Fur Farm Intelligence Unit
Previous Related Indybay Features:
Over 10,000 Animals Released in Total Since July in Massive ALF Fur Farm Campaign |
Interview with Joseph Buddenberg of the AETA 4 |
AETA 4 Case Dismissed, But Re-Indictment Possible |
Rights Attorneys Argue Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Is an Unconstitutionally Vague Law |
Federal Authorities Arrest Four Bay Area Animal Protesters
Environmental groups petitioned the California Fish and Game Commission to protect the Humboldt marten under the California Endangered Species Act. The Humboldt marten is a cat-sized carnivore related to minks and otters that lives in old-growth forests in Northern California and southern Oregon. Most of the marten’s forest habitat has been destroyed by logging, and the remaining martens in California likely number fewer than 100 individuals.
The animal rights activist group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) held their May Day of action in downtown San Francisco on May 23. The activists traveled from cities in the U.S., Canada, and even Denmark, to once again bring their “It’s Not Food It’s Violence” campaign to the streets of San Francisco.
Approximately 100 activists took the message to a Whole Foods Store in downtown SF, to a food court inside the Westfield shopping center, and to Union Square. The group is trying to create a movement for animal liberation that is not afraid to say what they truly believe: that every animal, no matter how small or how weak or how different from us, has the right to be safe, happy and free; that the brutal violence against our animal brethren is an atrocity of the highest order; and that each of us has the power to make change for this world.
The group held a memorial service inside the food court in Westfield Mall for a chicken named Julia. They say Julia was rescued from an egg farm, but she died from ovarian cancer caused by the so-called "humane" practices Whole Foods uses to sell the public eggs. The activists claim there is nothing humane about egg farms.
 Read More with Photos and Video |
Direct Action Everywhere
Related Indybay Feature:
San Francisco Chipotle Closes in Face of Animal Rights Protests
The National Park Service has acknowledged that that more than 250 tule elk died inside the fenced Pierce Point Elk Preserve at California’s Point Reyes National Seashore from 2012 to 2014, likely due to lack of access to year-round water. While nearly half the elk inside the fenced area died, free-roaming Point Reyes elk herds with access to water increased by nearly a third during the same period.
The news comes as the Park Service considers a ranch management plan to either remove or fence in some of the free-roaming elk herds, while extending park cattle grazing leases for up to 20 years.
“Tule elk need room to roam, and native wildlife in our national park should not be fenced in or prevented from finding water and food,” said Jeff Miller with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The loss of nearly half the Pierce Point elk herd highlights how important it is that the Park Service not cave to commercial ranchers who want free-roaming Point Reyes elk fenced in.”
Read More | Center for Biological Diversity
At least 145 of America's last wild, migratory bison have already been captured inside Yellowstone National Park's Stephens Creek bison trap this week as a result of the park and other entities working under the controversial Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). They intend to kill upwards of 900 of the gentle giants under the guise of population control and "disease risk management."
In response, Friends of Animals (FoA) Wildlife Law Program and the Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) filed a lawsuit Jan. 15 against the National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for allowing the horrific roundup to proceed and failing to respond to an emergency rulemaking petition filed Sept. 15 by the two groups to protect the genetic diversity and viability of the bison of Yellowstone National Park.
Every winter and spring, snow and ice cover the bison's food and hunger pushes them to lower elevations across the park boundary in Montana. When they cross this arbitrary line, the buffalo enter a zone of violent conflict with ranchers. Last winter 653 bison were slaughtered, and back in the winter of 2007/2008, the largest scale wild buffalo slaughter, claimed the lives of 1,631 animals. At the turn of the 20th century, similar reckless behavior nearly drove bison to extinction.
Read More | Buffalo Field Campaign | Documentary Film: Silencing the Thunder
Previous Indybay Coverage: BFC Audio Interviews: Apr 2005 || Feb 2006 || June 2007 || Feb 9, 2008 || Feb 19, 2008 || Apr 2008
Stephany Seay writes: Many believed that a Salmon, Idaho-based wolf and coyote killing spree was canceled when organizations released to the media that the BLM had revoked permits for the event. However the Forest Service still allowed it, and the derby was still on. Eight individuals, rallied by Brian Ertz of Wildlands Defense, braved the hostile Salmon community to be on the ground and document the carnage. We were able to expose it, let them know people are watching, and we shamed them into hiding their carnival parade of cruelty.
Christopher Ketcham writes: Salmon, like many small towns in the rural West, is a ranching society. Ranchers who run their cattle on the open range have historically regarded wild predators not as majestic creatures but as vermin to be exterminated. Investigative journalist Jack Olsen, writing in his 1971 book Slaughter the Animals, Poison the Earth, concluded that the livestock industry's hatred of predators—wolves and coyotes foremost, but also cougars, black bears, grizzlies, wolverines, lynx, bobcats, hawks, eagles, and on and on—went "so far beyond the dimensions of reality as to be almost pathological in origin."
Read More | How to Kill a Wolf - An Undercover Report from the Idaho Coyote and Wolf Derby | WildLands Defense
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Earthlings
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Earthlings
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