In 2017, Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer, members of the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere or DxE, removed two injured, sick, and severely underweight piglets from Smithfield Foods factory farm in Beaver County, Utah. On October 8th, the two animal activists were acquitted by a jury on burglary and theft charges, which could have sent them each to prison for five-and-a-half years. Following the jury’s decision, Hsiung said “[t]his is a resounding message about accountability and transparency […] Every company that is mistreating its animals and expecting that government and local elected officials will just go along with them because they have them in their pockets will now realize that the public will hold them accountable, even in places like Southern Utah.”
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