We Are Being Arraigned Today For Rescuing James

James begs to be picked up every time I come home.

Moments ago, the prosecution in the Ridglan rescue case filed an updated information adding 3 felony counts to the existing burglary charge. The total cumulative prison time the prosecution can now seek for the four felony charges is over 30 years. I will be arraigned on those charges, along with my co-defendants, at 2 pm CT via Zoom. (You can watch the court hearing live by searching for the Branch 14 livestream here.)

And I could not be happier.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want even a single additional day in jail. Over the last few months, I’ve barely seen my family. Oliver was rescued from a dog meat farm and still lives in trauma. Even 10 years later, he still shakes at times when a stranger comes too close—fearful of the deadly violence he witnessed by human beings in his first year of life. He needs the people he loves nearby.

Oliver on the day we rescued him from a meat farm in Yulin, China.

My wife Rose is going through her own struggles, not just in leading Animal Rising but in facing upcoming trials in September and November. I should be at her side.

Then there is James. Little James, already the light of our lives. Floppy, sad-faced, and endlessly affectionate, James was rescued on March 15 and is still grappling with this big new world. My arms were the first to carry him outside of Ridglan Farms. And he has blessed me with his trust since that day. Everywhere I go—on walks, doing work in the office, even going to the bathroom—he is glued to my side. Every time I come home, he collapses in my lap and gives me endless licks to the face. Every time I leave, he looks up at me as if his world is ending.

I promise him that it’ll be okay, and that I’ll always keep him safe. But I wonder, by going on trial, am I breaking that promise?

Then I remember another promise: the promise I made to the mamas at Ridglan in 2017. On that cold night in Wisconsin, as we walked out with a blind beagle puppy and 2 others in our arms, I looked back and whispered:

“We’ll come back. I promise.”

That promise is as important as the ones I’ve made to Ollie, Rose, and James. And it will now be judged in court by a jury of our peers. It will be a test of our society’s compassion. And I’m betting my freedom that we will pass the test.

And that promise is why I’m happy to be arraigned. There has yet to be a reckoning over the thousands of beagles left to be criminally abused and killed over the last 10 years at Ridglan Farms. This court case is our best shot at bringing the corruption and cruelty to light.

Of course, it’s not just the beagles at Ridglan who need our help. There are tens of thousands of others at places like Marshall BioResources in New York who are desperately in need of aid. And there are unprecedented opportunities to help them. In an election year, politicians will be looking for grassroots support. If we can mobilize people, we can make historic change.

But more on that later. Today, I plead not guilty and face the power of the state, and the corrupt ties between industry and government that left dogs like little James to die. I’m glad to have your support.

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Other things

• I will be challenging two unconstitutional actions by the prosecution today. The first is the no contact order, which bars me from contacting defendants in the Ridglan rescue case. There is clear constitutional case law prohibiting this sort of bail condition. I’ll be raising those arguments in court today. The second is the attempt to delay the trial. The prosecutor in the case, Matthew Moeser, claims that his schedule is too busy to meet the speedy trial requirement of 90 days set by Wisconsin law. We will oppose his attempt to delay the trial in hope to bring this to court by August at the very latest.

• The Wall Street Journal published what is perhaps the best piece by the business press on open rescue—and it could have dramatic impacts. I was once told by an experienced hand in animal rights that one piece in the Wall Street Journal is worth 1000 protests. It is read by every important businessperson in the nation. And the piece published by investigative journalist Joe Barrett is brilliant. Give this a read, and use the piece with any conservative or business types if they ask, “What’s the deal with these rescues?”

• I also published a piece today in Current Affairs on rescue as civic duty. One of the most important lessons of the recent MBR trials in the UK is that activism must be framed as community service, rather than imposition of political ideology, to be successful. Rescue is perhaps the best form of activism to frame our activism in this way because of its concreteness. Give it a read, and let me know what you think!

• There is much more for us to achieve with the network that mobilized for Ridglan. We are still not sure whether all the dogs at Ridglan will be freed. I had conversations earlier this week about the status of negotiations and will send something out to this list once I have a clearer sense of the current status. Just as important, we need to seize this moment to build a sustainable movement for change. We have seen in prior movements how quickly attention collapses (and with it, power). I’ve been having discussions with many leaders and scholars about how we can overcome this problem and start building towards real power. We’ll likely schedule a meeting in the next week!