English: October 22, 2018, OAKDALE, CA – Three women were arrested Sunday on charges of felony grand theft and misdemeanor trespass at Ray-Mar Ranches, a California factory farm which supplies calves to Harris Ranch, and beef to Costco and In-N-Out Burger, for removing a living calf who had been dumped in a graveyard area of the facility.

The women, all volunteers for the grassroots animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), were participating in a vigil to shine light on the abuse of mother cows and their babies in the dairy and beef industries. The women say that after their arrest they became victims of sexual harassment themselves; their arrest was captured on Facebook Live.

Activists say this event is just the latest in a pattern of corporate and government misconduct in the face of animal cruelty. Activists have faced a series of felony charges across the country for attempting to alleviate animal suffering, including 58 activists charged with multiple felonies for attempting to give food and water to chickens from a Petaluma, CA farm on September 29. They cite the legal opinion of a criminal law scholar the UC Hastings College of Law establishing that citizens are legally justified in helping animals in need of immediate medical care.

“This is exactly like a dog in a hot car. A sick calf left for dead is of negative economic value to the farm,” DxE co-founder and former Northwestern law professor Wayne Hsiung said. “These unlawful arrests have nothing to do with the law and everything to do with protecting corporate profits by shielding consumers from the abuses at retailers like Costco.”