After nearly 2 years of waiting to go to trial on criminal trespassing charges, Robert Penney, an animal rights activist from California was acquitted on Friday, 22nd July.
Penney, along with three other activists was arrested on Sept. 24th, 2014 after they were spotted allegedly trespassing and taking photographs of Circle Four Farms in Utah. All four were initially charged under Utah’s ag-gag law but Circle Four requested the ag-gag charges be dropped and so they were. The judge dismissed the case with prejudice as the prosecution had failed to produce about three hours of video and audiotape until the morning of the trial.
In response to the charges being dropped, Penney said, “This was another disgraceful installment of prosecutorial misconduct.”
The four activists, who were then volunteering for Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM), were planning to document the horrendous 500-mile journey that Circle Four pigs endure on their way from Utah to Farmer John’s slaughterhouse in Vernon, CA. The activists, who had stopped on a public road that services Circle Four were first detained for five hours by Minersville Marshalls who were quickly joined by several Beaver County Sheriffs. After it was discovered they were actually in Iron County the county sheriffs arrived to arrest them.
Right from the get-go, the evidence against the activists was vague and was provided by two Circle Four Farm workers who had apparently witnessed the trespassing. Subsequently, Penney also said that the two workers written statements were not the same as what they said in court during the trial and that he thought the Sheriffs had deliberately withheld evidence. The judge seemed to concur and threw out the case. Penney, who was defended by Angela and Adam Elmore had faced up to six months in jail and was determined to take the case to court after his fellow defendants took a no contest plea last year.
Circle Four is located in a very inhospitable area of Southeastern Utah and is a massive operation now owned by a Chinese company based in Hong Kong, Shuanghui International. The farm has twenty-five sheds and raises about 1.2 million hogs per year. Penney said, “I can’t even imagine what life is like inside those industrial sheds.”
There seems to be plenty of evidence to suggest that the pigs endure horrific cruelty at Circle Four, which has come under fire more than once for its mistreatment of pigs and for environmental pollution. The Utah Animal Rights Coalition released a video two years ago depicting the horrendous conditions endured by pigs and piglets at Circle Four. The video contains disturbing images.
Whistleblowers publicly condemned the farm for animal cruelty stating, “Castration tools and training workers received were inadequate. This resulted in pain to piglets, ruptures, and in some cases death when animal’s intestines were pulled out along with their testicles.” Piglets not weighing at least 5lb after one week were killed by slamming their heads against a concrete wall or floor. Beating sows with metal bars was also common.
Fires have swept through Circle Four twice burning pigs alive. The first fire in 2001 killed 12,000 pigs and the second in 2011 caused by an electrical fault killed nearly 2,000 pigs. Apparently, the barns aren’t fitted with sprinkler systems.
A horrendous crash killed forty-seven pigs and injured more when a truck traveling from Circle Four to Los Angeles crashed and overturned in 2007 near Las Vegas. The pigs were left injured and crying for hours because it appears relieving an animals injuries or rescuing them wasn’t important enough to block off the road to remove the injured pigs. They were left mangled and crying until another truck arrived to haul them off.
It is not just animal cruelty and environmental issues that Circle Four has been in deep water for. In 2010, they were called out for human trafficking and modern day slavery when workers from Thailand employed at the farm refused to work until they received the pay they were owed. Of course, Murphy Brown the parent company of Circle Four moved quickly to absolve itself of any wrongdoing but if the US is currently experiencing high unemployment then why is a company hiring workers from abroad and shipping them in?
Pigs are a much-maligned creature, once sacred, they are now are accused of being unclean, dirty, greedy animals but nothing could be farther from the truth. Pigs are highly intelligent, more intelligent than your dog and a three-year-old child according to some, sensitive and gentle; in the wild would raise their young together. Like most animals, we have done them a great disservice with our abysmal track record of cruel treatment and it is about time we changed. A desire to have a bacon sandwich is not a good enough excuse.