On Wednesday morning, animal rights activists Amy Soranno and Nick Schafer were sentenced to 30 days in jail, 12 months of probation, and are required to provide their DNA to the National DNA Data Bank. ➡️unicornriot.ninja/2022/animal-ac…
Soranno and Schafer were able to walk free out of the courthouse, however, because B.C. Supreme Court Justice Frits Verhoeven ruled that they won’t be taken into custody until Oct. 21, 2022, when they will enter the Okanagan Corrections Centre.
In response to the sentencing decision, dozens of animal rights activists descended on Excelsior Hog Farm to demonstrate their opposition to the farm itself, and to the criminalization of Soranno and Schafer whose trial stems from a demonstration at the same farm in 2019.
Even with the sentence being shorter than the 90 days sought by the prosecution, the two activists plan to appeal.
Soranno told UR before today’s hearing that they'll appeal no matter what. “The basis for our main defenses were cut out from under us & we, & the animals, were silenced repeatedly throughout this case. We need to right these wrongs, & we feel our grounds for appeal are strong.”
Their legal counsel will also be filing an application for bail pending appeal. If the bail application is granted by the British Columbia Court of Appeal, Soranno and Schafer may have their sentence deferred until after the appeal is heard.
Aside from continuing their legal fight, they are unwavering in their efforts to push for mandatory CCTV cameras in all animal farms and slaughterhouses across the province.
They also continue to push for B.C.’s Ministry of Agriculture to change animal law enforcement from the BCSPCA to “a more accountable and effective government agency.”
“If you’re proud of what you’re doing, you’re not doing anything wrong, you want activists to stop coming in, then let’s have cameras inside there, so all of that can be dealt with.” - Nick Schafer
When it comes to accountability and oversight, Schafer says there is none. “It’s a self-regulated industry. These farmers are basically running on the honor code,” Schafer told us.
Soranno mentioned how since 2019, ‘Ag-Gag’ laws have been passed in Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island, which criminalize those who film or report animal cruelty inside farms and slaughterhouses.
This trial isn’t the first time that B.C. Supreme Court Justice Frits Verhoeven sided with a powerful industry against activists. In April 2021, Justice Verhoeven granted an injunction against Fairy Creek Blockade protesters.
The protesters blockaded logging roads for eight months to prevent logging company Teal-Jones from felling old-growth yellow cedars.
In his decision, Justice Verhoeven ruled that Teal-Jones would undoubtedly “suffer irreparable harm if the injunction [was] not granted.”
In his decision, Justice Verhoeven ruled that Teal-Jones would undoubtedly “suffer irreparable harm if the injunction [was] not granted.”
In both the Fairy Creek Blockade case and the Excelsior Hog Farm case, activists were protesting to protect things that can’t exactly speak up for themselves.
Learn more about the #Excelsior4 trial here: unicornriot.ninja/2022/three-ani…
And here's our article about their guilty verdicts: unicornriot.ninja/2022/two-anima…
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