News/Commentary

Animal rights activist gets brutal welcoming after storming court during NBA playoff game

April 24, 2022 | | Print Article

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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:

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.”

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.

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):

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.”

As for the Timberwolves’ players, it appears they wish DxE would go protest elsewhere and leave them alone …

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Vivek Saxena
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