Smithfield Trial Summit & Open Rescue Workshop - University of Denver Animal Law Program

2255 E Evans Ave, CO 80208

13 January, 2023

Description

*More details TBA* In the wake of the groundbreaking acquittal in the Smithfield Trial - where, for the first time in US history, two animal activists were found not guilty for openly rescuing animals from inside a massive factory farm - the University of Denver Animal Law Program is hosting a Trial Summit this January. The Summit will serve as an opporunity to learn more about this historic trial, debrief the case, and identify key learnings to apply in future animal rights litigation. -- Recent acquittals of activists engaged in open rescues raise new issues regarding the nature of animal personhood. Rather than civil litigation, could the deappropriation of nonhumans lie in the nexus between permissible property, and permissible rescue? What is the nature of open rescue law and practice, and how does it extend nonhuman personhood, perhaps in ways that might apply in other contexts of citizen action, such as efforts to inappropriate nonhumanity and rewild the Earth as the best defense against the climate crisis? The event will explore these issues, and all interested are welcome to attend! A full schedule with times and locations is coming soon.