Standing Up for Chickens: SF Attorney Takes Center Stage in Animal Rights Trial

A chicken rescued by Direct Action Everywhere. Photo by them too.

By Sheila Koren

Animal rights activists have been gathering in Santa Rosa this past month for a significant legal trial concerning the Right To Rescue mistreated animals. In this case it’s chickens and ducks from Petaluma factory farms. Two similar trials over the past year (in St. George, Utah and Merced, California) have resulted in acquittals for activists involved in nonviolent demonstrations and actions they believe intervene in violence, by providing suffering animals with food and water, and taking sick and dying animals for needed veterinary care.

Protestors in Sonoma. Photo from Direct Action Everywhere

The Sonoma County trial, presided over by Judge Laura Passaglia, concerns actions on two Petaluma factory farms in 2018 and 2019. The defense in this case is stymied some by the fact the judge has ruled that all video and photo evidence showing animal welfare conditions related to the trial, are inadmissible – although witnesses have been allowed to describe the conditions that helped form their belief that they could aid the animals involved.

Wayne Hsiung, San Francisco attorney and co-founder of the grassroots group DxE (Direct Action Everywhere) is, this time, the sole remaining defendant in a case in which he is charged with felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespassing  charges related to actions at Sunrise Farms – which provides eggs to a host of Bay Area stores – and Reinhardt Duck Farm, the largest duck supplier in California. The number of defendants is now down to one due to plea deals and dismissals. Wayne Hsiung is representing himself.

Wayne Hsiung. Photo from Direct Action Everywhere

Over a hundred activists affiliated with DxE were initially arrested for their part in nonviolent demonstrations where emergency medical aid was provided to sick and suffering animals. Hsiung testified that this came after county and state regulatory agencies ignored the activists’ repeated reports of criminal animal abuse at those facilities involved. California Proposition 2 – which passed in 2008 and took effect in 2015 and is called the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative – prohibits the confinement of pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal, and egg-laying hens in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up, and fully extend their limbs. California’s Proposition 12 was approved by voters in 2018 requiring all eggs sold in the state to be laid by hens living in cage free conditions by 2022.

Hsiung’s charges relate specifically to a May 29, 2018 rescue at Sunrise Farms, an egg supplier to Whole Foods and Costco, among other stores. At a June 3, 2019 occupation at Reichert Duck Farm, DxE activists took action in broad daylight to openly rescue animals, supported by the doctrine of legal necessity and California law. They removed 37 sick hens from Sunrise and 32 sick ducks from Reinhardt.

The mass open rescue at Sunrise was prompted by investigations that occurred in 2017 and 2018 which found that despite Proposition 2, banning intensive confinement, Sunrise was confining tens of thousands of birds in towering 15-foot-tall rows of tightly packed cages, inside of which many were sick, dying and dead. Investigators also found violations of California’s animal cruelty stature, Penal Code 597, including injured birds who were unable to access food or water. At Reichart, an investigation by Mercy for Animals in 2014, and another by DxE in 2019 revealed violations of the animal cruelty law, including diseased ducks left on their backs, unable to get up, and consequently unable to reach food or water.

A chicken rescued by Direct Action Everywhere. Photo by them too.

The prosecution’s first witness was Michael Weber, co-owner of Sunrise Farms. Weber said that at the time of the DxE action, there were approximately 800,000 birds on his farm and that they were “all receiving adequate care and stress free.” Under cross examination, however, he reluctantly agreed that cannibalism was not uncommon among the birds in his care due to their “heightened stress.” Hsiung made it clear that while Sunrise sports a “Certified Humane” label, their inspections are scheduled in advance and paid for by the company. On its website, Costco claims it is “committed to procuring cage-free eggs it sells worldwide.” Reichart also testified that he his company raises ducks humanely.

Attorneys from Costco and Whole Foods have been present in the courtroom, seated next to prosecutors according to DxE media coordinator, Cassie King. They were there in response to defense subpoenas for evidence related to conditions on one of the farms. The judge ultimately granted motions filed by Whole Foods, Costco and the American Humane Society to quash the subpoenas.

The defense began to present its case on Wednesday, October 11th. Its witnesses include expert veterinarians, law professors supportive of the right to rescue as applicable to the penal code and the necessity defense with regard to aiding  animals in distress. Prosecution witnesses included an employee at Reichardt and representative of the Sonoma County’s Sheriff’s office. Hsiung played a video where Sergeant Dave Thompson promised that they could walk through the farm to provide aid and remove any sick or injured birds, but Hsiung testified that no inspection ever occurred. Hsiung said he was told by other officers that the California Department of Food and Agriculture would have jurisdiction over these matters but when he reached out to the CDFA on multiple occasions about violations of Prop 2 and Penal Code 597, they told Hsiung and other activists that they were regulators, not criminal lawyers, and thus don’t enforce any of these laws.

The trial is expected to last another week or so. Activists believe that if their series of legal wins continue, it could open the floodgates to a new view of animals, under the law: as legal beings with rights, not property.