BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — Animal rights activists are filing a lawsuit for what they believe is active repression of their criticism of animal cruelty occurring at Smithfield’s Circle Four Farms.
The lawsuit is in regards to a citation given by an officer for canvassing on a sidewalk during Pioneer Day.
According to the activist, all he was doing was expressing his right to express to beaver residents what Smithfield Foods is doing to their community.
“You have these poop lagoons that are roughly you know, 500 feet by 500 feet that span 30 miles,” said Direct Action Everywhere Activist Curtis Vollmar. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that this is not good for the groundwater, the air quality, for anybody.”
Two members of “Direct Action Everywhere” are currently facing charges of burglary and theft, accused of breaking and taking a pair of piglets from Smithfield farms back in 2018.
“The main goals of what these other activists did was to simply expose the practices in the farm,” said Curtis. “And show people what’s going on.”
Vollmar, and five others, were handing out flyers on July 23 to encourage residents to sign a petition to get Attorney General Sean Reyes to drop the charges and prosecute Smithfield instead.
The trial in relation to those charges is currently set for September 9.
We reached out to Beaver County Sheriff’s Office, the county attorney and Smithfield Foods to comment on the lawsuit. But we have yet to receive a response as of this time.
