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Ontario Dog Rescue Faces Cruelty Charges

4 Lucky Paws Animal Rescue, located near Peterborough, Ontario, faces ten charges under the Provincial Animal Welfare Services Act, including permitting distress to animals and failing to provide them with appropriate and adequate medical care. The group collaborated with Manitoba Animal Alliance to rescue dogs from First Nations communities in Manitoba for three years. Allegations arose after the two groups stopped working together. 4 Lucky Paws responded on Facebook, citing challenges in providing care. Despite stating they will voluntarily close their doors, they continue seeking foster homes for the dogs. The next court appearance is scheduled for late February.

Animal Agriculture Alliance Reports on 2023 Animal Rights Conferences

The Animal Agriculture Alliance (AAA), an animal agriculture industry support organization, has released reports from prominent animal rights conferences in 2023, presenting what the AAA claims to be the movement's main strategies and impact. According to the report, discussions at these conferences included the call for increased investigations and open rescues at farms, heightened political engagement by animal rights advocates, strategies to pressure food-related brands to reduce meat sourcing, and leveraging broader issues such as public health and climate change for attention. The AAA urges their members to be aware of these “tactics” and implement measures to “safeguard their livelihoods.”

Animal Rights Activists Arrested Following Sentencing of DxE Co-founder Wayne Hsiung

Three Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) activists, including Zoe Rosenberg, Conrad de Jesus, and Rocky Chau, were arrested outside a California courthouse after the sentencing of DxE co-founder Wayne Hsiung. Hsiung, an attorney, received a 90-day jail term and probation after being found guilty of felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespassing at Sunrise Farms and Reichardt Duck Farm. The arrests suggest an increase in enforcement against animal rights activists, particularly those associated with the Right to Rescue movement, rescuing sick animals from factory farms. Rosenberg faces multiple charges, including six misdemeanor trespassing and seven felony charges.

British Columbia Police Rescue Cats After Fall from Moving Trailer

Multiple cats fell from a flat-deck truck hauling a travel trailer in British Columbia's (BC) Southern Interior, prompting reports to the Chase Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Despite a failed attempt to stop the truck, the trailer was later found abandoned, and animal rescue volunteers discovered a significant number of cats in and around it. Local animal rescue agencies, including the BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Shuswap Paws Rescue Society, are caring for the rescued cats. The incident is currently under investigation.

BC SPCA Rescues Two Mom Dogs and Eighteen Puppies from Abandoned Property

Two emaciated dogs, an American bulldog and Labrador retriever mix, along with their eighteen underweight puppies, were rescued from a property in Chase by the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA). The dogs were found in a makeshift doghouse without adequate food or water. The mother dogs, visibly malnourished, had low body condition scores of two out of nine, hindering their ability to feed the large litter. The puppies had body scores of four out of nine. The BC SPCA is treating the dogs and puppies for various conditions, and the mothers are available for adoption as a bonded pair.

Controversy Surrounds Rescue of Sheep in Scotland

A dispute has arisen over the rescue of a sheep stranded on a rocky Scottish shoreline for two years. Local farmers successfully saved her using a winch and makeshift sling. Animal Rising, an animal rights group, claims their planned rescue was taken over by the farmers, and they are petitioning against her relocation to a petting zoo. She will be transferred to a specialist home for recovery, with the groups divided over her future.

United States Animal Rights Activist Found Guilty in Open Rescue Case

Wayne Hsiung, lawyer and co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), an animal rights group, was found guilty of felony conspiracy to commit trespass and two misdemeanor trespass charges. The charges stemmed from an open rescue organized by DxE, in which seventy chickens and ducks were taken from farms in Petaluma, California. Hsiung represented himself in court but faced restrictions, including a gag order and limitations on the presentation of certain evidence, such as video footage capturing the conditions where the animals were housed. He plans to appeal the verdict, aiming to establish a stronger legal foundation for future open rescue cases. Hsiung's sentencing is scheduled for November 30th.

Neglected Horses Spark Concerns About SPCA's Response

Carly Marchand, operator of Freedom’s Gate Equine Rescue Society, criticized the British Columbia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BC SPCA) for not intervening in the case of two neglected horses she rescued. Marchand, informed by locals about the emaciated horses and one with a leg wound, insisted that several calls had been made to the BC SPCA, contrary to their claim of receiving only one report. She asserted that no action was taken, emphasizing the organization's responsibility to ensure immediate veterinary care for injured animals. An investigation is now underway and the rescued horses, named Devante and Finian, are receiving proper care with Marchand.

Newfoundland Court of Appeal Overturns Acquittal for Animal Cruelty

The Court of Appeal of Newfoundland and Labrador overturned the provincial court acquittal of Robert Picco on eight counts of criminal animal cruelty. Picco had been charged with neglecting four severely emaciated beagles in 2018. Despite evidence from a veterinarian pathologist describing the dogs as emaciated, starving, and near death, Judge Jacqueline Brazil acquitted Picco in 2021, arguing the Crown had not proven the dogs were “suffering.” Last year, Supreme Court Judge Peter O’Flaherty upheld the acquittal, stating that Justice Brazil’s finding that the dogs were not suffering was a factual determination, which falls to the trial judge to make. However, a recent decision by the Newfoundland and Labrador Appeal Court disagreed, citing errors in the previous rulings. The Court of Appeal concluded that the dogs were indeed suffering and that Picco should have known the consequences of denying food and water to the dogs, reinstating the charges and ordering a new trial. University of Alberta law professor Peter Sankoff emphasized the significance of the ruling, calling it “one of the three most important cases ever decided on animal cruelty.”

Six Rehabilitated Harbour Seals Return to the Waters off British Columbia's Coast

The Vancouver Aquarium's Marine Mammal Rescue Centre released six rehabilitated harbour seals, separated from their mothers for various reasons, into the waters at Iona Beach Regional Park in Richmond, British Columbia (B.C.). After months of rehabilitation, these once malnourished and dehydrated seals were deemed healthy and ready to return to the wild. The Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, which recently gained charity status, has been caring for marine mammals found in distress off B.C.’s coast for more than sixty years.