On this day in vegan history · October 8, 2022
The Piglet Rescuers Walk Free
A Utah jury heard two activists argue that carrying a dying piglet to a vet is rescue, not theft, and it agreed.
The facts
- Verdict date
- October 8, 2022
- Location
- Circle Four Farms, a Smithfield Foods facility in Beaver County, Utah
- Charges
- Two felony burglary counts and one misdemeanor theft count
- Original rescue
- March 2017, two piglets later named Lily and Lizzie
In March 2017, Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer, members of the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere, walked into Circle Four Farms, a Smithfield Foods hog operation in Beaver County, Utah, and left with two ailing piglets they later named Lily and Lizzie. Smithfield and Utah prosecutors charged both men with felony burglary and misdemeanor theft, exposure that could have meant years in prison. At trial, the defense argued openly that removing dying animals for veterinary care was rescue, not a crime, while the prosecution compared the piglets to a dented can worth saving from a store shelf. On Saturday, October 8, 2022, the jury acquitted Hsiung and Picklesimer on every count.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
-
If it can happen in southern Utah, it can happen anywhere.
Wayne Hsiung, quoted after the verdict, October 8, 2022
Source: The Intercept -
They got the right to be rescued today.
Paul Picklesimer, quoted after the verdict, October 8, 2022
Source: The Intercept
Why it still matters
It was one of the first times a jury heard a full-throated 'right to rescue' defense for taking animals off a factory farm and sided with the activists, giving later open-rescue cases a real precedent to point to instead of just a moral argument.
Sources
This history is still being written.
Every morning the brief covers what moved veganism forward, and every day one more verified piece of that story joins this almanac. Free, and tomorrow’s lands in your inbox.
Free, every morning. No guilt. No preaching.