Wayne Hsiung
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Wayne Hsiung | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Chicago |
Occupation(s) | Activist for animal rights and environmentalism |
Website | simpleheart |
Wayne Hsiung is an American activist.
Hsiung was incarcerated in November 2023 after being convicted of felony trespassing for his role in an open rescue of sick and dying chickens from Sunrise Farms in 2018.[12][13] Prior to this trial, Hsiung had been found guilty of two felonies;[14] in other jurisdictions he has faced charges of up to 60 years in prison.[15] In the most serious case, Hsiung was offered resolution that involved no prison time, on the condition that he refrain from criticizing the company he had investigated, Smithfield Foods; he and co-defendant Paul Picklesimer refused the offer and were acquitted after trial in October 2022.[16]
Early life and education
Hsiung's parents emigrated from Taiwan in the 1970s.[17] His father did work involving vivisection for several years, which left a lasting impact on Hsiung and motivated him to become an animal rights activist. He also was influenced by Patty Mark, founder of Animal Liberation Victoria.[18]
Hsiung attended
Career
Law
As a former lawyer,[7] Hsiung was involved in environmental activism and studied with economists Eric Posner and Mark Duggan.[citation needed] He coauthored an analysis of the effect of climate change on nonhuman animals with behavioral law and economics scholar Cass Sunstein.[22] Hsuing was suspended by the California State Bar in March 2024, and is no longer eligible to practice law.[7]
Direct Action Everywhere
In January 2015, Hsiung organized an "open rescue/investigation" on a certified humane egg farm in Petaluma, California. Hsiung and Direct Action Everywhere protesters climbed over a barbed wire fence to enter an egg farm and take video of alleged animal abuses such as confinement, preening from stress, and lack of water.[23] In January 2015, DxE released a video narrated by Hsiung that showed him and other activists rescuing a hen.[24] In the video there are birds with blisters and missing feathers.[25] These hens were from a "cage-free" egg farm at Petaluma Farms, a major west-coast supplier to Whole Foods and Organic Valley. Hsiung, as the narrator, refers to the "stench," "filth," and "misery" around him. He shows several birds that appear to have blisters, missing feathers, and caked-on feces, though some birds have no visible health problems.[24] The crew dramatically rescues one injured bird, handing her over the fence, one activist to another, and rushing her to a vet in Berkeley, who declares the bird to be in dismal shape.[24]
In April 2016, Hsiung and two other members of DxE went to
In 2017, Hsiung, along with four other DxE activists, investigated a pig farm owned by
On April 24, 2018, Hsiung was arrested and charged with "threatening bodily injury" in
In May 2018, Hsiung and other protesters walked into a Santa Rosa Egg Farms facility, rescued chickens, and recorded extensive video footage which illustrated systemic animal abuse, massacre and mutilation.[36] Hsiung maintained that his actions and those of DxE were legal, providing a legal opinion to the owners and the employees of the facility when they demanded he and the protesters leave.[37] The opinion asserts that California Penal Code Section 597e and the common law doctrine of necessity permit the removal of sick and dying animals in certain situations, including from commercial facilities DxE investigated.[38] The opinion has been untested in court. Hsiung and Direct Action Everywhere have labeled this, and numerous other actions, as "open rescues."
Another large-scale action occurred on September 29, 2018, when activists, including Hsiung, walked into Petaluma Poultry in
Hsiung has also been a part of several other high-profile protests and incidents, most notably a disruption of a San Francisco Giants-LA Dodgers baseball game in September 2016 that led to him being tackled by Giants player Angel Pagan on national TV.[42] He was also a high-profile spokesman for a series of protests at presidential rallies during the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primary over the candidates' support for animal agriculture.[43]
Hsiung has also given various talks at various universities about social activism and animal rights. In November 2014, Wayne Hsiung was a guest speaker at
In December 2021, Hsiung was found guilty of two felonies,
In November 2023, Hsiung was sentenced to 90 days in jail and two years probation on trespassing charges after engaging in an open rescue at the Sunrise Farms chicken farm in 2018. He served 38 days before being released early.[13]
Berkeley Animal Rights Center
In 2017, Hsiung was involved in the founding of the Berkeley Animal Rights Center, the first community center in the United States dedicated to animal rights.[citation needed][47] Hsiung has also been a speaker at the annual Animal Liberation Conference that takes place in Berkeley, California.[48]
2020 Berkeley Mayoral Race
On April 3, 2020, Hsiung announced he was running for Mayor of
The Simple Heart Initiative
In 2021, Hsiung co-founded a nonprofit called The Simple Heart Initiative (TSH). The mission of TSH is to build a mass movement for open rescue. In 2024, Harvard Law Review published an article co-written by Hsiung, Justin Marceau, and Steffen Seitz called, Voluntary Prosecution and the Case of Animal Rescue. [51]
Personal life
Hsiung lives with his dog, Oliver, in San Francisco. He rescued Oliver from Yulin, China, where Oliver was to be slaughtered at the Yulin dog meat festival.[52]
Hsiung is on the board of directors of the Climate Defense Project, which represents environmental activists and pursues environmental impact litigation.[53]
See also
References
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung for Berkeley, CA Mayor 2020". Wayne Hsiung for Mayor. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Berkeley Mayor Election Results". Berkeley Mayor Election Results. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Twitter. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Facebook. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Substack. Retrieved 2023-06-02.
- ^ Colman, Zack (2016-04-16). "The Fight for Cage-Free Eggs". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ a b c "The State Bar of California - Attorney Profile - Wayne Hsuing". 2024-03-20.
- ^ "In Re: Allstate Life Insurance Company Litigation". www.law360.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ a b Khan, Zara; Kapoor, Tarunika (2020-06-04). "'A force for change': Prominent activist Wayne Hsiung runs for mayor". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ Jacobs, Andrew (2022-10-08). "Animal Rights Activists Are Acquitted in Smithfield Piglet Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 2022-10-08.
- ^ Lennard, Natasha (2023-11-04). "Update: Wayne Hsiung Found Guilty, Receives Suspended Sentence, Probation". theintercept.com. The Intercept. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
- ^ a b Greene, Jenna (January 4, 2024). "From Big Law to jail, animal rights activist seeks to break new legal ground". Reuters. Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "Update: Wayne Hsiung Found Guilty, Receives Suspended Sentence, Probation". transylvaniatimes.com. The Transylvania Times. 2022-07-12. Archived from the original on December 7, 2021. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
- ^ Klein, Ezra (5 December 2019). "When doing the right thing makes you a criminal". Vox. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2020-07-14.
- ^ "Is there a place in the animal rights movement for a kid from China?". directactioneverywhere.com.
- ^ "The Animals Voice | A Conversation with Animal Rights Activist Wayne Hsiung".
- ^ Burba, Lilly (September 12, 2014). "Wayne Hsiung, DxE founder, speaks about animal rights". The DePauw.
- ^ "Graduate, undergraduate students awarded with numerous scholarships, grants, fellowships". The University of Chicago Chronicle. 2001-06-07. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ Hsiung, Wayne. "Wayne Hsiung's LinkedIn Page". LinkedIn.
- ^ Sunstein, Cass R.; Hsiung, Wayne (2007). "Climate Change and Animals". John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics Working Paper (324). University of Chicago Law School
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ a b c "What does "cage-free" even mean?". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
- ^ "What does "cage-free" even mean?". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ a b "Celebrities Square Off Against Chinese Dog Meat Festival". ABC News. 2016-06-23. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
- ^ Spotswood, Beth (2016-09-21). "Berkeley City Council passed a resolution against eating dogs last night". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
- ^ Hsiung, Wayne (2016-07-05). "The Dog I Took a Beating For". Medium. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
- ^ "A Conversation With Animal Rights Activist Wayne Hsiung". The Animals Voice. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
- ^ Hsiung, Wayne (2016-07-05). "The Dog I Took a Beating For". Medium. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
- ^ "Animal rights activists who removed two piglets from factory farm charged after FBI raids". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
- ^ Moyer, Justin (September 14, 2017). "FBI raids animal shelters, searching for piglets rescued from factory farm, activists say". The Washington Post.
- ^ Greenwald, Glenn (October 5, 2017). "The FBI's Hunt for Two Missing Piglets Reveals the Federal Cover-Up of Barbaric Factory Farms". The Intercept. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
- ^ Greenwald, Glenn; Fang, Lee; Woodhouse, Leighton Akio (2018-06-07). "Animal Rights Activists Face Multiple Felony Charges, Brought by Prosecutors With Ties to Smithfield Foods". The Intercept. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- ^ "moby xⓋx auf Instagram: "Dear @wholefoods what do you think about this? When one of your employees was asked a few simple questions she called the police to have…"". Instagram (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-12-26. Retrieved 2018-11-28.
- ^ Direct Action Everywhere – DxE on Facebook Watch, retrieved 2020-06-23
- ^ a b Animal Rights Extremists: Trespassing to Rescue Chickens – YouTube
- ^ "combinepdf.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ Direct Action Everywhere – DxE on Facebook Watch, retrieved 2020-06-23
- ^ Nguyen, Thao (2018-11-15). "Direct Action Everywhere activists face charges after Petaluma protest". The Daily Californian. Retrieved 2021-05-02.
- ^ "Animal welfare activists face felony charges in Petaluma farm protests". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. 2019-01-18. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
- ^ Gafni, Matthias (2016-10-01). "Angel Pagan slam: Why the protester ran on field". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ Woodruff, Betsy (2016-06-02). "Animal Activists Go Apesh*t on Bernie Sanders, While Hillary Clinton Panders". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
- ^ "What if Everything We Think We Know about Social Change is Wrong?". callink.berkeley.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
- ^ "Changing the Law by Breaking It: a Conversation on Activism, Animal Welfare, and the Law with DxE Founder, Wayne Hsiung". Stanford Law School. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
- ^ Perri, Alex (2021-12-07). "Update: Update: Wayne Hsiung Found Guilty, Receives Suspended Sentence, Probation". Transylvania Times. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
- ^ "Berkeley Animal Rights Center".
- ^ McWilliams, James (18 June 2018). "How Chicken Activists in California Broke the Law to Start a Reasonable Debate About Animal Cruelty". Pacific Standard. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Issues". Wayne Hsiung for Mayor. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Voluntary Prosecution and the Case of Animal Rescue". Harvard Law Review.
- ^ "The Dog I Took a Beating For (Animal Rights Series)". medium.com. 5 July 2016.
- ^ "Wayne Hsiung". Climate Defense Project. Retrieved 2020-06-23.