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A female animal rights activist dressed as a referee made headlines Saturday for storming onto the Minnesota Target Center’s basketball court during a game between the Memphis Grizzles and Minnesota Timberwolves to protest the Timberwolves’ owner, Glen Taylor.
“With 10:44 left in the third quarter, a fan seated in the second row behind the Timberwolves’ bench abruptly ran onto the court in the middle of a play at Minnesota’s Target Center,” according to USA Today.
But her protest literally lasted only seconds, as a security guard rushed after and tackled her like a linebacker.
Watch:
Animal rights activist Sasha Zemmel (@SashaMonik) dressed as #NBA ref arrested while protesting #Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor for animal cruelty.
PRESS RELEASE HERE: https://t.co/SA0aNFDw83#GlenTaylorRoastsAnimalsAlive #NBAPlayoffs #WolvesBack #GlueGirl #ChainGirl #DxE pic.twitter.com/cpguHYKURF
— Direct Action Everywhere (@DxEverywhere) April 24, 2022
Here’s the whole protest thing – Protesters sitting right behind Glen Taylor before one ran out on the floor pic.twitter.com/yw9AJGWqKM
— CJ Fogler AKA Perc70 #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) April 24, 2022
See the two outraged woman sitting in front of the camera holder in the first video? The one on the left is Becky Mulvihill, the wife of billionaire Glen Taylor, who’s sitting to her left.
Taylor is the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves and a top investor in Rembrandt Enterprises, a company that runs some of the world’s largest “egg-producing” factories.
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), the animal rights group that orchestrated the protest, has accused Rembrandt Enterprises of committing extreme acts of animal cruelty.
A press release published by DxE identifies the tackled protester as activist Sasha Zemmel and says that “her makeshift referee jersey had the jersey number 5.3 displayed on the back, in honor of the 5.3 million chickens killed at Rembrandt following an outbreak of ‘highly pathogenic avian influenza’ (HPAI).”
This is true, though not mentioned by DxE is that the killings were overseen by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS).
“The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship announced that avian influenza was detected in ‘a flock of commercial layer chickens’ in Buena Vista County,” the Storm Lake Times reported on March 23rd.
“The infected flock of around 5.3 million birds was Rembrandt’s egg-laying facility with some 20 barns and a processing plant that employs 300 permanent workers and hundreds of temporary workers.”
Now in 2022, as an aggressive avian flu tears through the country, many birds are being killed with VSD & it’s becoming a standard industry practice. A newspaper in Iowa reported that hens on a 5.3 million-bird egg factory farm were killed this way:https://t.co/TQUSeAVrY4
10/
— Marina Bolotnikova🐈 (@mbolotnikova) April 14, 2022
More tellingly, an IDALS spokesperson explicitly told the paper that “depopulation is underway at the infected facility.”
DxE continues its press release by claiming the birds were killed via ventilation shutdown plus (VDS+), “a mass killing method whereby ventilation openings in the industrial sheds full of birds are closed, and some combination of heat, steam and/or carbon dioxide gas are introduced, eventually killing the animals via suffocation.”
This is also true, though left unmentioned by the activist organization is that this method has been approved by the Biden USDA’s Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service.
“A memo APHIS issued in January permits the use of VSD+, a system in which barn ventilation shuts off; temperatures above 104 degrees are then introduced. The birds die by suffocation,” according to the Storm Lake Times.
Perhaps DxE should be protesting the Biden administration instead?
All this said, DxE claims that, one, VSD+ is inhumane.
“VSD+ has been widely criticized as inhumane by animal protection organizations, while veterinary and legal experts say Rembrandt’s conduct is not just cruel but violates state law. Neither Rembrandt nor the Timberwolves have commented on the investigation,” the press release reads.
Amid Bird Flu Outbreak, Meat Producers Seek “Ventilation Shutdown” For Mass Chicken Killing
“The results of this study demonstrate, clearly, that ventilation shut down in any form is not humane.”
Read the full story: https://t.co/7q25u3VYIs pic.twitter.com/1HcQL4M6aK
— The Intercept (@theintercept) April 22, 2022
And two, after VSD+ was applied at the Rembrandt factory, “[d]ozens of surviving birds were found still in their cages, running loose in the sheds, even buried alive.”
And indeed, the organization appears to have some photo evidence proving this.
Look (*Graphic content):
Scenes from the aftermath of Glen Taylor’s factory farms using ventilation shutdown to kill 5.3 million abused animals. The few who survived were left to fend for themselves with no food or water. pic.twitter.com/634tB6zkGp
— Direct Action Everywhere (@DxEverywhere) April 24, 2022
The protest at the game Saturday in Minnesota marked the third protest by DxE in recent weeks.
“On April 16 during Game 1 of the playoff series, an animal rights activist chained herself to the basket stanchion. The woman, wearing a T-shirt that read: ‘Glen Taylor Roasts Animals Alive’ — tried to lock herself to the hoop during a stoppage of play in the second quarter after throwing flyers on the floor. Direct Action Everywhere identified the woman as Zoe Rosenburg,” according to the New York Post.
“Three days earlier, another woman from the organization glued her wrist to the court during the second quarter of the Timberwolves’ home game against the Clippers. The woman, identified as activist Alicia Santurio, was quickly escorted off the court as the glue was not strong enough to hinder her removal.”
Protester fails miserably in attempt to glue herself onto court during NBA game https://t.co/UWOUKRdOvi
— Conservative News (@BIZPACReview) April 14, 2022
As for the Timberwolves’ players, it appears they wish DxE would go protest elsewhere and leave them alone …
Anthony Edwards on the protester tonight:
“Put this out there. Y’all got to stop running on the floor in Minnesota. Do that in Memphis. Don’t do that in Minnesota.”
— Dane Moore (@DaneMooreNBA) April 24, 2022
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Vivek@bizpacreview.com
V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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