Former “Baywatch” star Alexandra Paul and one other girl went on trial this week in Merced County after taking two chickens from a Foster Farms truck outdoors a California plant.
The incident, which occurred in September, was captured on video by animal activist group Direct Motion In all places.
Footage reveals Paul and Alicia Santurio working as much as an idling semi that’s carrying a trailer stuffed with chickens outdoors Foster Farms’ Livingston plant. They open a hen cage and seize two chickens.
Video from animal rights group Direct Motion In all places seems to indicate actor Alexandra Paul and Alicia Santurio taking chickens from a truck outdoors Foster Farms’ Livingston, Calif., plant.
The pair run again to a ready automobile because the chickens squawk of their arms and ruffle their feathers.
Paul and Santurio have been charged with misdemeanor theft. Jury choice of their trial started Tuesday.
Paul mentioned the motion was an “open rescue” of the chickens from alleged mistreatment on the plant.
“We revealed this video inside an hour with each my title and Alicia Santurio’s title connected to it as a result of we imagine what we’re doing is authorized and morally proper,” Paul mentioned in an interview with The Occasions.
“We’re rescuing sick chickens from a manufacturing unit farm that has a historical past of abusing them,” she mentioned.
Paul and Direct Motion In all places mentioned that the chickens that have been taken have been sick and that one died shortly after it was pulled from the truck regardless of receiving veterinary care.
Foster Farms didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The corporate, nonetheless, spoke to the New York Occasions in February about footage of the plant taken by Direct Motion In all places activists and mentioned the allegations of animal mistreatment have been “with out benefit.”
The Livingston plant was additionally the location of a COVID-19 outbreak amongst staff in 2020 that killed eight folks.
Paul and Santurio’s trial comes a couple of months after two Direct Motion activists have been acquitted in Utah after taking piglets from a farm owned by pork large Smithfield Meals.
A video of that incident was additionally posted to YouTube by Direct Motion.
“The prosecution has supplied us 5 offers, and we now have mentioned no,” Paul mentioned. “After I take into consideration the results for me, they’re minimal in comparison with what the animals are going via.”
