The Turning Point for Animal Rights Is Coming Faster Than You Think

If you despair over animal cruelty, read this.

One of thousands of beagles we found trapped in cages at Ridglan Farms.

Sometimes, I think about this mother beagle I left trapped in a Ridglan cage back in 2017, and my mind nearly breaks. I have loved dogs my entire life. Hearing one cry outside will send me running out of the house to help. But I left this mom cowering in a 2’ x 4’ metal cage as she struggled to walk. The wire flooring pressed painfully into her red, inflamed paws. Her vocal cords were cut to silence her cries. And the worst was yet to come: torture or death in an experiment.

When I think about it too much, I’ll just start crying. We had our reasons for leaving her behind: space in the car, resources, available hands. But no matter the excuses, one question echoes painfully through my mind:

What happened to this mom?

Maybe you know this despair. The fight for animals has been a losing one for most of the last 50 years. The numbers are almost too large to comprehend: millions in labs, billions in factory farms, and trillions in ecosystems devastated by human encroachment.

But all that is about to change. Because we are near a turning point for animal rights. This might seem like a strange statement, given that I’m facing felony charges for rescuing beagles from Ridglan Farms. The government of Dane County certainly does not seem to be turning the right way. But the government often lags behind the rest of society. When you look more broadly, something is changing in our society’s support for animal rights.

You can see it in the newspapers. Yesterday, the New York Times columnist Ezra Klein published a powerful condemnation of the corruption and cruelty of the pig farming industry. It was one of three opinion pieces published by the Times in the last few weeks challenging the abuse of animals.

You can see the change on social media. Posts not just about dogs, but farm animals too, are going viral. The open rescuer Zoe Rosenberg racked up hundreds of millions of views on her social media after she was put on trial for rescuing four chickens from a slaughterhouse. Chickens, not dogs!

Zoe with Chester, a beagle rescued from Ridglan Farms, and a rescued chicken in the background.

You can see the change in organizing. David Coman-Hidy, who is an astute student of animal rights activism and history, noted earlier this month that he’s never seen as much grassroots, organic support for animal protection as what’s unfolding in this moment. People from all walks of life are hosting events, calling senators, and making the fight for animals a part of their life.

But maybe the most important way you can see the change is in the confidence of animal advocates. People are no longer tiptoeing around the issue; they are speaking out. In 2019, Sen. Cory Booker was asked a question about his personal veganism in a presidential debate and ran from the question with his tail between his legs. In 2018, Ezra Klein admitted that talking about his support for animal rights was the scariest thing he’s done as a journalist.

But now Cory is condemning cruelty to chickens openly. (Again: Chickens, not dogs!) And Ezra is writing about the personhood of pigs. From Ezra’s column yesterday:

Plenty of people would go to great lengths to save a potbelly pig they saw wandering near a street corner, even as they consume factory-farmed pork at the dinner table. That pig is an individual. Breeding sows are an abstraction. We can relate to individuals; we feel powerless before systems. And systems fight to keep us that way.

There is a wave rising to challenge that system of cruelty and deception. And this wave could be much bigger and faster than you think. The reason is that people all over the world, not just Cory and Ezra, are finding their voice.

People often pretend they are ok with animal cruelty because they worry that they won’t fit in with others if they say what they actually think. This is why Ezra found it so difficult to come out as an animal advocate. Recognizing that animal suffering matters changes the way you see everything because animal abuse is everywhere. That separates you from the people around you who are just trying to live “normal” lives. Ezra has called it taking the Green Pill, based on the famous scene in The Matrix. The hero must choose between two pills: one gives you a life of comfortable lies, and the other forces you to acknowledge the disturbing truth. Taking the Green Pill—seeing the cruelty to animals everywhere—is a tough pill to swallow.

But when people see this truth and speak it, it can create a powerful domino effect. The truth spreads, and people are inspired to fight back. And we are seeing that unfolding right now for animal rights. It’s not just the thousands of people who signed up to join the Ridglan rescue, leading to a historic release of over 1500 dogs. It’s the new confidence of the kid at school giving presentations about factory farming. It’s the new courage of the introvert who comes to a horse carriage protest for the first time. People aren’t just taking the Green Pill. They’re speaking out.

That bodes well for the future. When large numbers of ordinary people find their voice, the foundation for a movement is established. We have been waiting for this moment. That mama beagle at Ridglan in 2017 has been waiting for it. Let’s seize it, and never leave another suffering mom behind.

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Other stuff

• Negotiations continue for the Ridglan dogs—with more success. We’ve seen a steady trickle of releases, and I’m confident that these negotiations will lead to success. But stay tuned for more updates, as we are hearing that good things are in the works.

• We have a plan to save the tens of thousands of other dogs trapped in labs by the end of the year. Expect it to be released this week. We’ve been getting feedback, and it’s in good shape—and ready for your participation and support.

• The Ridglan prosecution continues—with more unconstitutional actions by the state. The prosecutor in the case, Matthew Moeser, filed a motion last week arguing that the judge should undermine our right to a speedy trial… because one of his officers wants to go on leave. There is, of course, no “leave for officers” exception to the constitutional right for a speedy trial, and we suspect this has more to do with the fact that Ridglan wants to delay this trial as long as possible. We will be vigorously opposing.

That’s all for now. But stay tuned for much more, including a possible leadership summit in late July in NYC!