"Leave Our Slaughterhouse Alone, West Town Renters Tell Animal Rights Group"

By Alisa Hauser, October 2017

WEST TOWN — Two renters who live above a West Town live chicken market are defending the shop in the wake of animal rights activists demanding Pollos Vivos be closed.  

"We’d love to provide an alternate viewpoint to the protesters on how a small neighborhood shop has been operating as a community center as well as a source for cheap, healthy, humane food for the neighborhood for decades," Alex Burkholder said.

Burkholder, a project manager at an architecture firm, has lived above Alliance Poultry Market — which does business under the name Pollos Vivos — for six years. His neighbor Logan Deane, a lawyer, moved to another apartment above Pollos Vivos about two years ago.

The activists' characterization of the shop at 1636 W. Chicago Ave. as a slaughterhouse was "one sided," Burkholder and Deane said.

"The chickens are Amish as the protester acknowledged, and they're absolutely delicious. They arrive every night (took a while to get used to the clucking!) and when you go into the shop, they let you pick which chicken you're getting before they butcher it for you," Burkholder said.

Burkholder added, "It's disappointing that the protesters are targeting a locally-owned, farm-to-table shop like this when it's as close of an educational opportunity about where food comes from as you can get in the city. You see the chickens alive and well before you eat them. Circle of life."

Nick Abdallah is the 32-year-old son of Fayyad "Fred" Abdallah, who owns Pollos Vivos with Wasif "Wally" Shehadeh. He said the negative exposure from Chicago Animal Save and its unplanned visit, was "very intense."

"This country is built on freedom of speech and you also have the freedom to eat whatever you want as long as it's not illegal. They had a problem with people killing chickens and they came to the bottom of the pyramid. If you shut down a mom-and-pop store in Chicago it does not mean Mariano's and Jewel will not sell chicken anymore," Nick Abdallah said.

Neither Nick Abdallah nor his father or uncle were in Pollos Vivos at the time when the protesters came by  — but Pollos Vivos workers agreed to give the activists a tour.

"The guys who were in there don't mind giving a tour. They like to show people the process. It's all by the book. English is not their first language; they felt very deceived. They didn't know until later that [the protestors] were trying to kill our livelihood," Nick Abdallah said.

During the short tour, the protestors linked arms in front of the chicken cages and took photos of the chickens. They decorated the cages with long-stemmed roses and published a video on Facebook.

Abdallah grew up helping his dad in the store, which was initially started in 1953 as a Kosher live chicken market. Fred Abdallah and his brother-in-law Wally Shehadah bought the business from the previous owners in 1982.

Pollos Vivos, which has a second location on the South Side, employs 11 people, or "supports 11 families," as Abdallah says. The workers speak Middle Eastern languages and Spanish.

"We serve Hispanic and Asian and American customers who wants to eat healthier. We are swamped right now [with business] for the Chinese Moon Festival holiday, " Nick Abdallah said.

Nick Abdallah said the live chickens at Pollos Vivos come from Amish farms in Indiana. The chickens are in a cage for 48 hours before being slaughtered. At any given time there are about 200 live chickens in Pollos Vivos, he said.

Chickens at the West Town location sell for $2.19 a pound when alive and live turkeys, which are popular at Thanksgiving, are $2.29 pound live. Once dressed and cleaned, the birds loses some weight.

Deane, who frequently buys chicken and eggs from Pollos Vivos, said the shop "offers a healthy, sustainable, and inexpensive option for all members of the community, not just those who can afford the luxury condo price tag."

"The shop has a TV in front and there are always groups of people hanging out, enjoying conversation and keeping their eyes on Chicago Avenue. There's almost always an elote cart out front, serving corn and watermelon and drinks. Pollos Vivos pretty uniquely ties together the traditional family crowd with the newer hipster wave that's recently moved into the neighborhood," Dean said.

And as for those long stemmed roses the activist stuck into the chicken cages?

Abdallah said the roses are currently in a flower pot for decoration.

"[The workers] did not want to kill the roses and gave them water, " Abdallah said.

(originally posted on DNAinfo https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171004/west-town/pollos-vivos-live-chickens-animal-rights-cages-slaughterhouse-abdallah)

Chicago Animal Save Stands Up for Chickens & Other Small Animals Being Killed in Chicago

So...the article ends with implying the irony and humor, HAHA!!, that the workers tried to save the roses the CAS folks placed on the cages of the animals about to be killed and comparing this to the animals killed at the slaughterhouse . . .  I will let you read for yourselves!

" 'Leave Our Slaughterhouse Alone,' West Town Renters Tell Animal Rights Group"

By Alisa Hauser, DNAinfo

WEST TOWN — Two renters who live above a West Town live chicken market are defending the shop in the wake of animal rights activists demanding Pollos Vivos be closed.

"We’d love to provide an alternate viewpoint to the protesters on how a small neighborhood shop has been operating as a community center as well as a source for cheap, healthy, humane food for the neighborhood for decades," Alex Burkholder said.

Burkholder, a project manager at an architecture firm, has lived above Alliance Poultry Market — which does business under the name Pollos Vivos — for six years. His neighbor Logan Deane, a lawyer, moved to another apartment above Pollos Vivos about two years ago.

The activists' characterization of the shop at 1636 W. Chicago Ave. as a slaughterhouse was "one sided," Burkholder and Deane said.

"The chickens are Amish as the protester acknowledged, and they're absolutely delicious. They arrive every night (took a while to get used to the clucking!) and when you go into the shop, they let you pick which chicken you're getting before they butcher it for you," Burkholder said.

Burkholder added, "It's disappointing that the protesters are targeting a locally-owned, farm-to-table shop like this when it's as close of an educational opportunity about where food comes from as you can get in the city. You see the chickens alive and well before you eat them. Circle of life."

Nick Abdallah is the 32-year-old son of Fayyad "Fred" Abdallah, who owns Pollos Vivos with Wasif "Wally" Shehadeh. He said the negative exposure from Chicago Animal Save and its unplanned visit, was "very intense."

"This country is built on freedom of speech and you also have the freedom to eat whatever you want as long as it's not illegal. They had a problem with people killing chickens and they came to the bottom of the pyramid. If you shut down a mom-and-pop store in Chicago it does not mean Mariano's and Jewel will not sell chicken anymore," Nick Abdallah said.

Neither Nick Abdallah nor his father or uncle were in Pollos Vivos at the time when the protesters came by  — but Pollos Vivos workers agreed to give the activists a tour.

"The guys who were in there don't mind giving a tour. They like to show people the process. It's all by the book. English is not their first language; they felt very deceived. They didn't know until later that [the protestors] were trying to kill our livelihood," Nick Abdallah said.

During the short tour, the protestors linked arms in front of the chicken cages and took photos of the chickens. They decorated the cages with long-stemmed roses and published a video on Facebook.

Abdallah grew up helping his dad in the store, which was initially started in 1953 as a Kosher live chicken market. Fred Abdallah and his brother-in-law Wally Shehadah bought the business from the previous owners in 1982.

Pollos Vivos, which has a second location on the South Side, employs 11 people, or "supports 11 families," as Abdallah says. The workers speak Middle Eastern languages and Spanish.

"We serve Hispanic and Asian and American customers who wants to eat healthier. We are swamped right now [with business] for the Chinese Moon Festival holiday, " Nick Abdallah said.

Nick Abdallah said the live chickens at Pollos Vivos come from Amish farms in Indiana. The chickens are in a cage for 48 hours before being slaughtered. At any given time there are about 200 live chickens in Pollos Vivos, he said.

Chickens at the West Town location sell for $2.19 a pound when alive and live turkeys, which are popular at Thanksgiving, are $2.29 pound live. Once dressed and cleaned, the birds loses some weight.

Deane, who frequently buys chicken and eggs from Pollos Vivos, said the shop "offers a healthy, sustainable, and inexpensive option for all members of the community, not just those who can afford the luxury condo price tag."

"The shop has a TV in front and there are always groups of people hanging out, enjoying conversation and keeping their eyes on Chicago Avenue. There's almost always an elote cart out front, serving corn and watermelon and drinks. Pollos Vivos pretty uniquely ties together the traditional family crowd with the newer hipster wave that's recently moved into the neighborhood," Dean said.

And as for those long stemmed roses the activist stuck into the chicken cages?

Abdallah said the roses are currently in a flower pot for decoration.

"[The workers] did not want to kill the roses and gave them water, " Abdallah said.

TO VIEW THE VIDEO IN FULL CLICK HERE

(from https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20171004/west-town/pollos-vivos-live-chickens-animal-rights-cages-slaughterhouse-abdallah)

"West Town Chicken Slaughterhouse Targeted By Animal Rights Group"

By Alisa Hauser, September 2017

WEST TOWN — About 25 activists tried to shut down Chicago Avenue on Monday to protest a chicken slaughterhouse that often attracts long lines from customers seeking fresh poultry.

The Monday morning interference perplexed Pollos Vivos butcher Sam Abed, who said that he allowed some members of the activist group to take a tour of the facility last Thursday, 1636 W. Chicago Ave.

"They said to stop it, to change the business. This is like someone coming to say, 'I want no snow in Chicago.' How do you handle it? She said she feels bad for the animals. I said, 'You don't have to see it,' " said Abed.

"I wish they would have went to KFC; they kill a lot more chickens across America, but they come to a small mom-and-pop store," he added.

Kelsey Atkinson, an organizer from Chicago Animal Save, said that Monday's protest — which was peacefully broken up by Chicago police around 10 a.m. —  was inspired by the tour that two Chicago Animal Save members took of Alliance Poultry Farm Market, which operates under the name Pollos Vivos, which is Spanish for live chickens.

During the tour, the protestors snapped photos and took videos of the chickens. When the protestors returned on Monday, they left roses in the chicken cages.

On Monday night, the group posted a video of Monday's protest on their Facebook page.

"Compassion is intrinsic in everyone, we just get conditioned out of it by the constant brainwashing from the media, which exists for one thing - profit," activist Alana Parekh said in a statement posted with the video.

It urged viewers to "listen to your heart — are you a protector or a predator?"

"We are determined to change the direction of our food system for the benefit of everyone — animals and humans alike," Parekh said, adding that part of its mission is to "convince slaughterhouse workers to surrender animals for rescue."

"We selected Alliance Poultry because they specialize in Amish, free-range chickens and we believe that it does not matter how humanely the animals may have been raised, it is still wrong to kill them," Atkinson told DNAinfo on Tuesday.

Atkinson said that during the protest some people walking or driving by put up their fists "in solidarity."

Officer Nicole Trainor, a Chicago Police spokeswoman, confirmed officers "responded to a call of disturbance with protestors blocking traffic" around 10:04 a.m. Monday in the 1600 block of West Chicago Avenue. Trainor said no arrests were made.

Pollos Vivos owner Fayyad Abdallah was out of town last week and this week, according to Abed, who said that the owner allowed for the tour.

"Nobody ate meat. They stayed 10 or 15 minutes and they left," Abed said.

In a news release, Atkinson said, "This slaughterhouse’s gruesomeness just underlines the horrible and unnecessary violence inherent to all slaughterhouses in Chicago and beyond. It is our mission to expose and shut down these slaughterhouses once and for all."

Activists with Chicago Animal Save have been blocking slaughterhouse trucks and holding vigils for animals since October 2016, according to a news release. Earlier on Monday before Pollos Vivos, Atkinson said Chicago Animal Save activists also protested at Halsted Packing House, 445 N. Halsted St. and Park Packing, 4107 S. Ashland Ave.

The Pollos Vivos slaughterhouse has been operating for 64 years under a variety of names.

Abed said that the slaughterhouse was started in 1953 and that Abdallah took over the business from the founding owners in 1982.

After last Thursday's tour, three of the activist posted a reaction video on Facebook and vowed to come back to Pollos Vivos. They said near the end of their visit, they tried to save a chicken and take the bird with them, but were unsuccessful.

(originally posted on DNAinfo https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170926/west-town/pollos-vivos-alliance-poultry-farm-market-west-town-live-chickens-chicago-ashland)

"Animal Rights Activists Tour, Film Chicken Processing Business"

By Mike Kraiser, September 2017

 More than a dozen animal rights activists staged a protest at a live chicken processing business in the West Town neighborhood after being invited in for a tour.

The activists, with a group called ‘Chicago Animal Save,’ toured Pollos Vivos, which is ‘live chickens’ in Spanish, on the 1600 block of West Chicago Ave.

They walked in with cameras rolling and, at one point, locked arms in front of some of the chicken cages.

“Last week, a few of our members visited a slaughterhouse where they saw what happens behind the scenes — boiling chickens alive, de-feathering while sometimes still alive, blood splattered floors, all in the name of tradition,” the group wrote on Facebook. “Today we went back to the same slaughterhouse to spread our message of LOVE. We are determined to change the direction of our food system for the benefit of everyone — animals and humans alike. Violence towards any living being should never be tolerated.”

“One of the guys thought that I was there just to film because I thought it was a cool process,” one of the activists said. “So he was very excited to show me around and show me what happens to the animals.”

The activists say their mission is to expose and shut down slaughter houses.

“We’re making this video to show you guys the history of your food — what happens behind the scenes.”

Before they left, the activists put red roses in some of the cages and said they would be back.

(originally posted by CBS Chicago http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/09/26/animal-rights-activists-tour-film-chicken-processing-business/)

"New Group to Promote Humane Farming, Expose Animal Cruelty in Illinois"

"New Group to Promote Humane Farming, Expose Animal Cruelty in Illinois"

By Alex Rupenthal, August 2017

A new group comprised of Illinois farmers and animal welfare experts will promote farms where animals are raised humanely while attempting to further expose animal abuse by some of the state’s industrial livestock producers.

Marc Ayers, Illinois state director for the Humane Society of the United States, said he began coordinating the group last year after a Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that state officials had failed to investigate allegations of animal cruelty in Illinois’ 900-plus hog confinement facilities.

The Tribune series also found that hog waste spills accounted for nearly 500,000 fish killed in Illinois water pollution incidents over a 10-year span and impaired 67 miles of waterways.

“The [Tribune investigation] exposed everything that goes on behind the scenes, whether it’s of environmental or animal welfare concern,” Ayers said. “And I want people to realize that there are farmers out there who are doing it in the completely opposite way that the factory farmers are doing it.”

The new group, called the Illinois Agricultural Advisory Council, will be formally announced Aug. 25 during a panel discussion on animal abuse linked to factory farming in the state. Illinois is the 12th state where the Humane Society has set up agriculture councils to highlight farms that treat animals humanely and adhere to environmental standards.

Ayers said he is still meeting with potential members, including farmers, ranchers and other agriculture professionals. Like other state agriculture councils, the group will advocate for improvements to animal welfare policies and assist family farmers who want to implement higher animal welfare standards.

Ayers, who served as rural affairs and environmental policy director for former Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, said the advisory group will also promote humane farming practices such as providing animals proper shelter, food and space to move around.

“The goal is to really showcase what these guys are doing and also by default showing what the factory farmers are doing on the opposite spectrum,” Ayers said, referring to large-scale confinement facilities where incidents of animal cruelty have been documented. “Every day, these animals are stuck in these cages and crates. Some of them literally can’t turn around. The only good day is when they’re finally taken out of that misery.”

Next week’s event will include discussion about an effort to pressure Illinois’ largest hog production company to end the use of gestation crates, tight metal stalls that keep female pigs in one position for the majority of their lives. The cages, about 2 feet wide and 7 feet long, are banned in 10 states but not in Illinois, which is the fourth-largest pork-producing state. 

A Change.org petition by Jessica Chipkin of the nonprofit Crate Free Illinois calls on The Maschhoffs LLC to phase out the use of gestation crates on family owned and contract farms. The Maschhoffs, based in Carlyle, Illinois, is the third-largest U.S. pork producer.

In its investigation, the Tribune uncovered allegations of animal abuse at facilities in Illinois run by the company.

“As in any industry, consumer attitudes and behavior drive change,” Chipkin said in a press release. “The Maschhoffs are successful business people, so we are hopeful they recognize the growing intolerance of extreme confinement practices and will join other producers already transitioning to 100 percent crate-free production.”

As of Wednesday, Chipkin's petition had nearly 163,000 online signatures. 

In response to the Tribune’s investigation, lawmakers proposed four bills this spring that would strengthen environmental protections and give local residents legal standing to challenge hog confinement facilities in court.

Ayers said the new advisory group will track the legislative efforts and provide lawmakers with guidance from farmers.

(originally posted on WTTW https://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2017/08/16/new-group-promote-humane-farming-expose-animal-cruelty-illinois)

WHEN IS AN ANIMAL A LEGAL PERSON?

Defining rights for non-humans beyond bestowing them with “personhood” can only become more important as we learn more about animal cognition.

By Jane C. Hu, April 2015

This is not a trick question: Is a chimpanzee a person? If you asked the average human being that question, you'd probably get a quick "no." In the eyes of the law, however, that’s still an open question.

Last week, a New York Supreme Court judge submitted a court order that appeared to give two research chimpanzees the writ of habeas corpus—the right to challenge unlawful detainment. Previously, habeas corpus has been extended only to legal persons, so experts speculated that the order implicitly acknowledged the chimps, named Hercules and Leo, as legal persons. But the very next day, the judge amended the order. In the document, she scribbled over the words “writ of habeas corpus,” apparently to sidestep any speculation about the chimps’ personhood status. The next court date is set for May 27; then, Stony Brook University, where Hercules and Leo are being held, will have to present a legal argument for why they are detaining the chimps.

Hercules and Leo’s case is one of several lawsuits filed by the Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal rights non-profit. In the eyes of the law, animals are still considered things. They can be given protections—for instance, the Animal Welfare Act lays out guidelines for the ethical treatment of research animals, while the Humane Slaughter Act sets standards for farming animals—but without personhood, they are still subject to be kept as human property. This is what the NhRP seeks to change; they believe that seeking legal personhood for animals will make the task of arguing for the chimps’ freedom from detainment an easier process.

OUR CURRENT LEGAL SYSTEM JUST ISN'T SET UP TO INCORPORATE THE NUANCES OF OUR GROWING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ANIMAL COGNITION.

Given that corporations, counties, and cities can be legal persons, it doesn’t seem like a huge stretch to confer personhood to animals too. This practice of declaring clearly-not-people as legal persons is called a “legal fiction.” Because we’ve created such a complex labyrinth of laws, it’s easier to fit in new concepts (like non-human entities having rights) by incorporating them into the old legal architecture. This leads to all sorts of weird exceptions; for instance, while corporations and cities can be legal persons, they are not actual people and they are incapable of emotions, and therefore aren’t able to act with malice or having privacy.

The law is a reflection of a general trend among humans: anthropocentrism, which basically says that people conceive of everything relative to the very distinct humanexperience. Whether the NhRP strategically planned to start with lawsuits on behalf of primates, it was a smart strategy; it takes advantage of our intuitive sense that primates are somehow like us—and therefore might also deserve rights.

In any case, what qualifies a being as deserving of rights? The NhRP has vowed to fight for personhood for other “intelligent” animals, like dolphins, whales, and elephants. But exactly what constitutes intelligence is hotly debated in the animal cognition world, and, ultimately, our definition is heavily biased toward our own species’ traits.. We think of ourselves as the smartest creatures around, so we look for human-like traits in animals. Some markers researchers have identified include self-awareness, planning and problem solving, learning from peers, and communication skills. Given these human-centric criteria, it’s unsurprising that humans are the only animals known to reliably meet all of them. Still, many other species have been shown to possess a subset of these indicators. While the NhRP recognizes animals like the primates, dolphins, whales, and elephants as intelligent, there are many other animals that we regularly overlook: Bees perform complex dance moves to show their peers where food is; crows wait for cars to crush nuts for them to eat; and lizards are capable of problem solving.

THIS CUMBERSOME PROCESS OF RECOGNIZING ANIMALS AS “PERSONS” IS ESSENTIALLY A BAND-AID FOR A BIGGER PROBLEM: WE DON’T HAVE ANY OTHER LEGAL CONCEPT IN PLACE THAT CAN BE USED TO DEFINE RIGHTS FOR NON-HUMAN BEINGS.

In any case, it doesn’t seem like the cognitive abilities of animals have any bearing on their legal protection. There are plenty of smart cold-blooded animals—birds, reptiles, fish, even insects—but only warm-blooded animals are covered by the AWA, which defines standards for research animals or animals for commercial sale. Standards for farm animals are generally lower—they are designed to ensure animals will not suffer “unnecessary cruelty”—though farm animals are not necessarily any less intelligent than animals covered under the AWA. Chickens are adept at problem-solving, especially when food is involved, and and appear to empathize with peers in distress. Octopuses solve complicated problems, and can even form opinions about individual humans. Pigs appear capable of deception. Fish learn from watching other fish.

It seems inevitable that as we learn more, the way we think about and treat animals will change. But our current legal system just isn't set up to incorporate the nuances of our growing knowledge about animal cognition. In Hercules and Leo’s case, the NhRP is pursuing personhood status for the chimpanzees really just for one right: freedom from detainment. Still, an argument for personhood presents the simplest strategy to obtaining that freedom.

This cumbersome process of recognizing animals as “persons” is essentially a Band-Aid for a bigger problem: We don’t have any other legal concept in place that can be used to define rights for non-human beings. Developmental psychologist Jean Piaget’s theories about infant learning come to mind. Piaget postulated that when babies come across new ideas, they must decide either to assimilate the idea into an existing concept they have, or, if the idea doesn’t fit well into any existing concepts they have, to create a new concept to accommodate the idea.

This line of thinking can be applied to the chimpanzee court case. The legal system has chosen to assimilate animals, corporations, and counties into its already-existing legal definition of “person,” rather than accommodating the idea with a new legal category all its own. Though we’re making do with these legal fictions for now, defining rights for non-humans beyond bestowing them with “personhood” can only become more important as we learn more about animal cognition or if we encounter new classes of things we want to give rights to, like machines and artificial intelligence.

Regardless of whether Hercules and Leo are recognized as legal persons, their case has started a dialogue about animal cognition that society will be forced to re-visit as we reconcile our knowledge about animals’ intelligence with our treatment of them. If there’s one thing that’s clear about animal cognition, it’s this: We humans are certainly the only animals that create laws to govern other animals.

(originally posted by Pacific Standard https://psmag.com/environment/is-a-chimpanzee-a-person)

#PASTBLAST "App aims to boost awareness of crate-free livestock operations"

"App aims to boost awareness of crate-free livestock operations"

By Katie Smith, July 2016

While some farms confine their animals to small crates and crowded pens, sheep at Heatherhope Farm in Sycamore are free to stretch their legs and graze the pastures.

Heatherhope Farm is managed by retired pastor John Seraphine, who is one of 10 local farmers supported by Crate Free Illinois, which is working to create awareness about the differences between traditional farmers and concentrated animal feeding operations, where animals are confined. 

Crate Free Illinois aims to help people buy directly from local farmers via its new mobile app – which includes a variety of options for DeKalb County residents.

“We believe in pasture-raised,” Seraphine said. “We believe in sheep and other ruminants have evolved over thousands and thousands of years to live on grass, so we practice what you might call intensive pasture management or grass management. You take good care of the grass and the pasture, and when needed, you don’t permit them to overgraze.”

Some of the local farms in the county on the Crate Free Illinois app include Knutson Farms in Malta, Wissman Organic Farm in Waterman, Whitfield’s Family Farm in Hinckley, Larson’s Country Market in Sandwich, and Farm Direct in Maple Park.

The sheep at Heatherhope are sheared for their wool and sold for meat.

“I think if you do confinement right, you can keep your animals healthy,” Seraphine said. “If you do the free range and you manage it well, you’re also keeping them healthy, but there is that kind of emotional side to it. It’s more satisfying in an emotional way to see sheep or cattle living a way they were evolved to live over thousands of years – to be out grazing.”

Animals raised on factory farms 
often are limited to tight, crowded quarters, where they are deprived of basic necessities, according to Crate Free Illinois, which is begging factory farmers to implement more humane practices.

Letting animals wander has its benefits for the land, too, Seraphine said, who trains herding dogs to keep his sheep moving.

“One of the things that is destroyed by confinement is the place of livestock in a diversified system. When you raise something on a field, the animals help to break the cycle of the weeds. They’re grazing on grass rather than corn. They’re breaking the cycle of the worms, and the manure helps to fertilize the ground,” Seraphine said. “In the agriculture we do now, we’ve lost that whole rotation of the fields.”

Although Heatherhope is only a small farm, Seraphine feels strongly about keeping animals comfortable, off antibiotics whenever possible, and, above all, healthy.

“We originally got into the sheep because of the sheep dogs, but once we got into the sheep, we wanted to do it right,” he said. “Even though we have a small operation, we try to be evangelists about sharing the idea of healthy stock management.”

The Crate Free Illinois mobile app is the first of its kind to help Illinois consumers find local options to buy meat, poultry, dairy and eggs from farmers who do not subject their animals to inhumane, extreme confinement methods, according to the release. Consumers can type in their ZIP code and locate nearby farmers, farmers markets and Community Supported Agriculture shares, as well as learn how to volunteer and support the organization’s efforts. 

David Ouellette of Batavia volunteers for the nonprofit Crate Free Illinois. Ouellette said it’s important for consumers to know where their food comes from, and understand what the words on packaging mean. It’s also a good idea to support local farmers whenever possible, he said.

He said he likes the Crate Free group’s proactive approach.

“They (Crate Free Illinois) approach the problem of today’s factory farm industry and CAFO facilities with optimism and a pragmatic attitude,” Ouellette said. “They didn’t want to broadcast the issues just for the sake of awareness; they also wanted to come up with solutions that could be implemented right now.”  

(originally posted by the Daily Chronicle http://www.daily-chronicle.com/2016/07/01/app-aims-to-boost-awareness-of-crate-free-livestock-operations/aaa45fs/)

#PAST BLAST "Animal Rights Activist Sentenced to Six Months of Home Confinement for Vandalizing a Farm and Releasing 2,000 Mink from Cages"

Want to hear what the Department of Justice had to say about the Mink Case ...

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Northern District of Illinois

"Animal Rights Activist Sentenced to Six Months of Home Confinement for Vandalizing a Farm and Releasing 2,000 Mink from Cages"

March 23, 2016

CHICAGO — A Los Angeles man was sentenced today to six months of home confinement for vandalizing a Grundy County fur farm and releasing more than 2,000 mink from their cages.

After releasing the mink, TYLER LANG and an accomplice spray painted the barn with the words, “Liberation is Love.”  The pair also poured an acidic substance over two trucks that were parked on the farm in Morris, Ill.

Lang, 27, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce with the purpose of damaging an animal enterprise. 

U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve sentenced Lang to three months’ time already served in prison, six months of community confinement and six months of home confinement, followed by one year of supervised release.

“Lang was not engaging in lawful activism or peaceful protest, but instead was committing a crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Bethany K. Biesenthal argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.  “The use of illegal methods of activism – harassment, threats, vandalism – does nothing more than taint the image of law-abiding activists who are attempting to create change through legal protest and lawful demonstration.”

The accomplice, KEVIN JOHNSON, of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty last year to the same charge as Lang.  Judge St. Eve sentenced Johnson last month to three years in prison.

The vandalism and releasing of the mink occurred on Aug. 13, 2013.  The mink farmers, with assistance from law enforcement, were able to recover 1,600 of the animals.  The remaining mink died or were never found.  Lang and Johnson also destroyed cards from the cages that identified the breed of each animal, making it impossible to determine the breed of the recovered minks.

The sentencing of Johnson was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The government is represented by Ms. Biesenthal and Assistant U.S. Attorney William Ridgway.

(originally posted on https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/animal-rights-activist-sentenced-six-months-home-confinement-vandalizing-farm-and)

#PASTBLAST "Animal activist who released thousands of minks gets 3 years in prison"

"Animal activist who released thousands of minks gets 3 years in prison"
By Jason Meisner, February 2016

On a summer morning nearly three years ago, residents of downstate Morris awoke to a peculiar sight. Minks were everywhere. Running through yards, darting under parked cars, scurrying across farm roads on the way into town. Dozens of the animals lay dead in the road, killed by traffic. Others splashed in lawn sprinklers to escape the heat.

In the middle of the night, two California animal rights activists had broken into a local mink farm wearing balaclavas and armed with bolt cutters and released more than 2,000 of the furry creatures, federal prosecutors say. The owners found cages emptied and their business ruined. Spray-painted on the side of their barn were the words "LIBERATION IS LOVE."

In federal court Monday, one of the activists, Kevin Johnson, was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to the victims of the sabotage.

In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve said she was troubled by the "escalation" of Johnson's activism over the years and that previous stints behind bars have not seemed to deter him. She also noted that his actions on the mink farm that night caused suffering for many of the animals he professed to want to save. In all, more than 550 of the minks died, many painfully, the judge said.

Johnson, 29, pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiring to travel across state lines to interfere with the operations of an animal enterprise. Before he was sentenced, Johnson choked back tears as he apologized for the attack, saying he has finally realized after nearly a decade of arrests that committing criminal acts was not an acceptable form of protest.

"I'm tired of it. I don't want it for my life," Johnson said, leaning forward into the microphone as the farm's owners looked on from the courtroom gallery. "I see these old guys in jail, all their best days are behind them and they're still going back. I'm not going to be that guy."

With time already served, Johnson could be released in as little as three months, according to his lawyer, Michael Deutsch. When he is released, Johnson will spend up to a year at an inpatient center near his home in California, where he will get treatment for mental health issues and receive job placement assistance, Deutsch said.

Johnson and his longtime friend, Tyler Lang, were in the midst of a cross-country journey to sabotage animal farms when they were arrested in August 2013. According to Johnson's plea agreement with prosecutors, after he and Lang freed the minks from the Morris farm, they poured caustic substances over two farm vehicles, causing significant damage, and destroyed cards from the minks' cages that identified their breed and are required for their sale.

When police stopped them two days later, they were just a few miles from a fox farm in Woodford County that they planned to sabotage as well, authorities said. Among the items seized from Johnson's vehicle were five bottles of muriatic acid, two bottles of bleach and a container of hydrogen peroxide, all ingredients for a homemade incendiary device.

Also found were books titled "Thinking Like a Terrorist" and "Unconventional Warfare Devices and Techniques," prosecutors said.

Lang, 27, has pleaded guilty and is scheduled to be sentenced next month.

The owner of the farm, Robert Rodeghero, told the judge during the hearing that he'd started raising minks as a hobby in 1979 and eventually built a business he hoped would supplement his factory worker's pension. After the attack, Rodeghero and his employees were able to corral about 1,600 of the freed minks, but the damage to the skittish and "high-strung" animals was done, he said. About 150 died in their cages in the days after their recapture.

He and his wife also suffered psychologically, Rodeghero said. For two weeks after the incident, he slept outside by the minks' cages with a loaded gun at the ready.

In asking for at least three years in prison, prosecutors said that while Johnson's ideas about animal rights "are noble," the tactics he has chosen have become increasingly violent and undermine law-abiding activists who try to make change through legal protest.

"(Johnson) has stalked, stolen, harassed, and threatened to make his point," Assistant U.S. Attorney Bethany Biesenthal wrote in a court filing. "... His past shows an escalating dangerousness."

Records show Johnson has a long criminal record in California. He first came to the attention of law enforcement during a protest against juice company executives in Santa Monica in 2006. Video from the protests showed Johnson screaming on a bullhorn outside the executives' homes, threatening to harm them and their families, according to prosecutors. He was convicted of burglary and served time in prison.

Three years later, Johnson was arrested after threatening some UCLA professors over their use of animals in research. He later pleaded guilty to criminal stalking and served about 1 1/2 years in prison, prosecutors said.

In May 2012, five months after his release on parole, Johnson was arrested for shoplifting and inciting a riot, prosecutors said. Later that year he was arrested for attempting to burglarize a pharmacy, and when authorities searched a laptop computer found in Johnson's car, they found personal information on scientific researchers and their families, according to prosecutors.

His mother, Tracy Rich, told the judge her son is highly intelligent and loving but has long battled depression and mental illness.

(originally posted by Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-animal-activist-mink-sentencing-met-20160229-story.html)

#PASTBLAST "Fox Breeders Condemn Cruel ALF Attack on Illinois Farm"

Continuing on with our mini-series with articles from past actions in Illinois and other Midwestern states which involve animal rights and liberation issues . . . If you were not aware of the following taking place a decade ago, well, time to be enlightened!!

NORTH CENTRAL FOX PRODUCERS’ ASSOCIATION PRESS RELEASE, APRIL 2, 2005

Contact: Lou Baumel 218-245-2127

Bovey, Minnesota: Early in the morning of April 1, 2005, trespassers entered the Littig Fox Ranch in Bluffs, Illinois and opened 58 pens of foxes, all females nursing litters of young pups or about to deliver within the next 10 days.

An “anonymous communique” purporting to come from the Animal Liberation Front claimed guilt for this crime and threatened to attack the farm again.

Kerry Littig, owner of the farm explained, “Many of the nursing females stayed with their pups but others, frightened, abandoned their young and several aborted or delivered early. We’ve recovered them all and got them all back into their pens but one of the females has died from stress and we’re now hand-feeding her young. The rest, of course, are traumatized.”

Littig went on to explain that it is a challenge for the farmer to match up foxes with the correct pups. A mistake can result in death of all the pups.

While property damage to the farm is minor, the extent of the damage done to the livestock will not be known for several weeks.

“Right now it is all dependent on the skill of the farmer,” added Lou Baumel of the North Central Fox Producers’ Association, which represents fox farmers throughout the region. “Kerry Littig has earned a solid reputation for the quality of his foxes, raising award-winning animals for over 23 years so I am confident he’s doing his best.”

The communiquŽ from the Animal Liberation Front stated that the crime was done in “solidarity” for recently-captured fugitive Peter Young. Young, a fugitive for seven years, was arrested while shoplifting in California and is implicated in a multi-state crime spree relating to attacks on farms ten years ago.

“Farmers and researchers in the Midwest should double check their security and Neighborhood Watch programs and report suspicious activity to local law enforcement and the FBI,” recommended Lou Baumel.

(originally posted at Fur Commission USA, http://furcommission.com/fox-breeders-condemn-cruel-alf-attack-on-illinois-farm/)

#PASTBLAST "Activist given home, community confinement for releasing minks"

"Activist given home, community confinement for releasing minks"

By Marwa Eltagouri, March 2016

An animal rights activist was sentenced to both home and community confinement Wednesday for breaking into a downstate Morris farm with a longtime friend and releasing more than 2,000 minks into the wild while armed with bolt cutters and with his face covered.

In handing down the sentence, U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve called Tyler Lang's actions "counterproductive," noting that hundreds of the minks died and many others suffered.

"This is a very serious offense that caused a substantial loss to the victim. It wiped out their business and life savings," St. Eve said of the owner of the farm, Robert Rodeghero, who attended the sentencing in U.S. District Court in Chicago, and his family. "You destroyed their feelings of security and their trust of others, in addition to their business."

The family declined to talk to a Tribune reporter.

The judge sentenced Lang to six months of home confinement followed by six months in a work release center. She also imposed a three-month prison term, but Lang had already served that in a downstate jail following his arrest. He was also ordered to pay $200,000 in restitution to the victims.

Lang and his friend Kevin Johnson, both of California, were in the midst of a cross-country journey to sabotage animal farms when they were stopped by police downstate a few days after the Morris incident. They were only a few miles from a fox farm in Woodford County that they planned to sabotage as well, authorities said.

Johnson, 29, who has a more extensive criminal history, was sentenced last month to three years in prison and was also ordered to pay $200,000.

Lang, 27, did not speak in court before St. Eve imposed the sentence. Instead, he wrote a letter to the judge expressing his regret, according to his attorney, Geoffrey Meyer. The letter was not read aloud in court.

Lang had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce with the purpose of damaging an animal enterprise.

Prosecutors had wanted to imprison Lang for up to 21 months, in part due to allegations of Lang's involvement in demonstrations against animal testing outside the homes of University of California-Los Angeles researchers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bethany Biesenthal called the protests "harassment" and compared the activity to the break-in at the Rodeghero's farm.

But St. Eve dismissed those claims and referred to the protests as "lawful picketing."

While Biesenthal conceded that Johnson was likely the mastermind of the anti-fur road trip, she argued that both men played equal roles in breaking in to the Morris farm.

"It's heartbreaking to think about how hard this family worked for this small business," she said. "It was gone in an instant."

In handing down her sentence, St. Eve said she took into account that Lang has stayed out of trouble since his release from jail in November 2013.

"I take that as a positive sign," she said.

(originally poasted by Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-animal-rights-activist-sentence-met-20160323-story.html)