Open rescue
Encyclopedia
Open rescue is a term for a form of direct action
practiced by certain animal rights
and animal welfare
activists. The aim of open rescue is to rescue animals in pain and suffering, generally and to give these animals veterinary treatment and humane living conditions while also documenting the living conditions at the place they were held. Open rescue puts the emphasis on the openness of their actions, as opposed to the traditional clandestine activities of animal rights
-related direct actions, and as such the activists always act openly, upfront, without masks (except as required by health reasons) and publish their full identities. Open rescue is nonviolent towards humans and other animals, although some groups practice property damage
.
(ALV) Rescue Team, based in Melbourne
. Inspired by satyagraha
, the method and philosophy used by Mahatma Gandhi
in the struggle for independence for India, the ALV developed this method in the 1980s and has since been conducting investigations and open rescue operations, actions which reportedly have been well-received by the public. At one point an Australian MP
joined in the rescue operation of factory farmed piglets.
In 1999, Patty Mark of the ALV presented this method of direct action at the United Poultry Concern's Direct Action for Animals Conference. Displaying the positive results of the open rescue actions in Australia and by comparing videos from an open rescue action and a clandestine action, she managed to convince a number of people of the usefulness of open rescue both on the grounds of compassions for animals and on the grounds of the reception by the general public, opening for the open rescue method on the international arena. Soon after this, Compassionate Action for Animals
(US) adopted the method, and other organisations followed.
Currently, openrescue.org, a network for organisations practising open rescue, lists 18 different open rescue organisations, with varying level of activity, in five different countries on three continents - Australia
and New Zealand
(Oceania
), Austria
, Germany
, The Czech Republic and Sweden
(Europe
) and USA (North America
).
, especially if the rescued animals have not been kept in accordance with laws regulating animal husbandry. Similarly, others cite the disregard of the owner's violations of such laws as sufficient justification, and point out the hypocrisy of the strict enforcement of the law against open rescue activists.
Majja Carlsson of Räddningstjänsten The Rescue Service, a Swedish
open rescue organisation, was one of four activists that rescued 120 hens in the largest open rescue operation to date. In her description of the action, she writes the following (translated from Swedish):
Similarly, Räddningstjänsten writes in a comment to the legal proceedings that followed the action (translated from Swedish) "We acted and saved 120 individuals from unnecessary suffering and certain premature death. [...] The real crimes are not committed by us, but by the animal industry."
Open rescue "puts a face on animal liberation". By being open, proponents claim that they get a more positive response from the media and the general population, and that by not wearing masks they reduce the distance between themselves and the public, they become a normal everyday person whom the public can identify with and not an abstract masked "terrorist". Being open removes or tones down the militant edge of direct actions.
Open rescue proponents also claim that their method of operation is conducive to their compassion for the rescued animals. One of the things reportedly shown by the video comparison at the aforementioned United Poultry Concern's forum on Direct Actions was that the open rescue activist displayed more compassion and care for the animals compared to the clandestine activists (which is not to say that the clandestine activists did not display compassion and care). Whether this is due to that the operations are unmasked, that the operations are open or some other quality is still open for argument.
have to be compensated. In addition, more manpower could be needed as the activists could be imprisoned. This is seen as a waste of resources and people which could be used to rescue even more animals. However, all these claims have resulted to be wrong in practice. In part because of the sympathies that open rescuers gain from the public, legal actions against them are uncommon, even if the identities of the rescuers is known.
It is also argued that open rescue is not a reasonable alternative for everyone. Some activists are on probation
, and being sentenced for another crime could mean that their previous sentence
s would be transformed to jail time.
It might be argued as well that some activists have or will have careers which require the lack of a criminal record
, careers or dreams which would effectively be over if they used the open rescue method, and regardless for most professions and careers a criminal record - in particular an extensive one - will be a hindrance both in regards to getting employed and getting promotions. This, however, would apply in the case of any kind of illegal action.
Some who are not involved in animal rights activism but sympathise with the goal of animal rights may have other reasons to defend open rescues, though this is extremely uncommon among animal rights activists, and those involved in open rescues do not support them. Some people consider direct actions to be counter-productive. While they may sympathise with the activists and what they wish to achieve, they think that the groups should abide the laws and by extension the democractic system that they live in. It is argued that the activists have a democratic and civic responsibility to operate within the confines of the law and that to do otherwise would be undemocratic, possibly even tyrannical. A common response to this criticism, made by both proponents of open rescues and other kinds of rescues, is that the argument suffers a fundamental flaw: We live in a democracy, but it is a democracy of man, for man, by man. The laws are written by humans for humans, making it an androcentric system which does not represent animals. If our system of governance is looked at from an interspecies perspective, it is something to be likened to apartheid rather than a full democracy, with humans taking the place of whites.
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
practiced by certain animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
activists. The aim of open rescue is to rescue animals in pain and suffering, generally and to give these animals veterinary treatment and humane living conditions while also documenting the living conditions at the place they were held. Open rescue puts the emphasis on the openness of their actions, as opposed to the traditional clandestine activities of animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
-related direct actions, and as such the activists always act openly, upfront, without masks (except as required by health reasons) and publish their full identities. Open rescue is nonviolent towards humans and other animals, although some groups practice property damage
Property damage
Property damage is damage to or the destruction of public or private property, caused either by a person who is not its owner or by natural phenomena. Property damage caused by persons is generally categorized by its cause: neglect , and intentional damage...
.
History
The open rescue method was largely developed by Animal Liberation VictoriaAnimal Liberation Victoria
Animal Liberation Victoria Inc. is the Victorian branch of Australian animal rights movement Animal Liberation operating throughout several areas in Australia. Founded in 1978 by Patty Mark, ALV is located in Melbourne and is recognised as Victoria's most powerful animal rights organisation...
(ALV) Rescue Team, based in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. Inspired by satyagraha
Satyagraha
Satyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
, the method and philosophy used by Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
in the struggle for independence for India, the ALV developed this method in the 1980s and has since been conducting investigations and open rescue operations, actions which reportedly have been well-received by the public. At one point an Australian MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
joined in the rescue operation of factory farmed piglets.
In 1999, Patty Mark of the ALV presented this method of direct action at the United Poultry Concern's Direct Action for Animals Conference. Displaying the positive results of the open rescue actions in Australia and by comparing videos from an open rescue action and a clandestine action, she managed to convince a number of people of the usefulness of open rescue both on the grounds of compassions for animals and on the grounds of the reception by the general public, opening for the open rescue method on the international arena. Soon after this, Compassionate Action for Animals
Compassionate Action for Animals
Compassionate Action for Animals is a Minneapolis-based animal advocacy non-profit focused on raising awareness on factory farming and promoting vegetarianism.-History:...
(US) adopted the method, and other organisations followed.
Currently, openrescue.org, a network for organisations practising open rescue, lists 18 different open rescue organisations, with varying level of activity, in five different countries on three continents - Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
(Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
), Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, The Czech Republic and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
(Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
) and USA (North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
).
Criminality
Some practitioners of open rescue claim to not be guilty of any crime, claiming to have acted in defense of othersSelf-defense (theory)
The right of self-defense is the right for civilians acting on their own behalf to engage in violence for the sake of defending one's own life or the lives of others, including the use of deadly force.- Theory :The...
, especially if the rescued animals have not been kept in accordance with laws regulating animal husbandry. Similarly, others cite the disregard of the owner's violations of such laws as sufficient justification, and point out the hypocrisy of the strict enforcement of the law against open rescue activists.
Majja Carlsson of Räddningstjänsten The Rescue Service, a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
open rescue organisation, was one of four activists that rescued 120 hens in the largest open rescue operation to date. In her description of the action, she writes the following (translated from Swedish):
- Quite possibly legal ramifications will follow this action. Naturally, I realize that some will label this as a crime even though I disagree with them. It is sad that we are the ones considered criminals in this society, and not the egg industry which has in fact violated the Swedish Animal Protection Act for over fifteen years. That the law intended to protect the animals is widely ignored while crimes against the right of ownership are seen as serious offences.
Similarly, Räddningstjänsten writes in a comment to the legal proceedings that followed the action (translated from Swedish) "We acted and saved 120 individuals from unnecessary suffering and certain premature death. [...] The real crimes are not committed by us, but by the animal industry."
Arguments for open rescue
Open rescue proponents also claim that their method of operation is conducive to their compassion for the rescued animals. One of the things reportedly shown by the video comparison at the aforementioned United Poultry Concern's forum on Direct Actions was that the open rescue activist displayed more compassion and care for the animals compared to the clandestine activists (which is not to say that the clandestine activists did not display compassion and care). Whether this is due to that the operations are unmasked, that the operations are open or some other quality is still open for argument.
Criticism
One can divide the criticism against open rescue into two general categories: Criticism against open rescue as a method of direct action, which often comes from other practitioners of direct action, and criticism of the use of direct action, which can come both from other animal rights activists and from outside the animal rights movements.Criticism against open rescue as a method of direct action
It has been argued that because open rescue virtually guarantees that the activists will be found and convicted due to the publication of their identities, open rescue can be construed as a more resource-demanding method compared to clandestine methods. According to this, open rescue would allegedly require more money, as the resulting convictions following the actions means that fines have to be paid and damagesDamages
In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
have to be compensated. In addition, more manpower could be needed as the activists could be imprisoned. This is seen as a waste of resources and people which could be used to rescue even more animals. However, all these claims have resulted to be wrong in practice. In part because of the sympathies that open rescuers gain from the public, legal actions against them are uncommon, even if the identities of the rescuers is known.
It is also argued that open rescue is not a reasonable alternative for everyone. Some activists are on probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
, and being sentenced for another crime could mean that their previous sentence
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
s would be transformed to jail time.
It might be argued as well that some activists have or will have careers which require the lack of a criminal record
Criminal record
A criminal record is a record of a person's criminal history, generally used by potential employers, lenders etc. to assess his or her trustworthiness. The information included in a criminal record varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country...
, careers or dreams which would effectively be over if they used the open rescue method, and regardless for most professions and careers a criminal record - in particular an extensive one - will be a hindrance both in regards to getting employed and getting promotions. This, however, would apply in the case of any kind of illegal action.
Defending open rescues over rescues in which the identity of the rescuers is hidden
Defenders of open rescues claim that when activists do not hide their faces their actions are much better received by the public, thus being able to be much more successful in achieving their aim of questioning the public's speciesist attitudes.Some who are not involved in animal rights activism but sympathise with the goal of animal rights may have other reasons to defend open rescues, though this is extremely uncommon among animal rights activists, and those involved in open rescues do not support them. Some people consider direct actions to be counter-productive. While they may sympathise with the activists and what they wish to achieve, they think that the groups should abide the laws and by extension the democractic system that they live in. It is argued that the activists have a democratic and civic responsibility to operate within the confines of the law and that to do otherwise would be undemocratic, possibly even tyrannical. A common response to this criticism, made by both proponents of open rescues and other kinds of rescues, is that the argument suffers a fundamental flaw: We live in a democracy, but it is a democracy of man, for man, by man. The laws are written by humans for humans, making it an androcentric system which does not represent animals. If our system of governance is looked at from an interspecies perspective, it is something to be likened to apartheid rather than a full democracy, with humans taking the place of whites.
See also
- Animal rightsAnimal rightsAnimal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
- Animal rights activism
- Animal welfareAnimal welfareAnimal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
- Civil disobedienceCivil disobedienceCivil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
- Compassion Over KillingCompassion Over KillingCompassion Over Killing is a nonprofit animal protection organization based in Washington, D.C., founded by Paul Shapiro and currently led by Erica Meier. Formed in 1995, COK's primary campaigns are to advocate against factory farms and promote vegetarian eating...
- an organisation which practices open rescue - Concordia High School chicken rescue incident of October 11, 2010
- EcotageEcotageEcotage is a portmanteau of the "eco-" prefix and "sabotage". Ecotage is often used as a descriptive term for the direct actions of environmental groups such as Earth First! and similar groups throughout the Western world. The term is only applied for actions of sabotage committed within the...
- SatyagrahaSatyagrahaSatyagraha , loosely translated as "insistence on truth satya agraha soul force" or "truth force" is a particular philosophy and practice within the broader overall category generally known as nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term "satyagraha" was conceived and developed by Mahatma...
- VeganismVeganismVeganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...
- VegetarianismVegetarianismVegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...
External links
- openrescue.org - a network of open rescue organisations
- nzopenrescue.org.nz - New Zealand Open Rescue
- OpenRescue.net - Open Rescues carried out by Animal EqualityAnimal EqualityAnimal Equality .-Biography:Igualdad Animal is an international non-profit animal rights organization whose purpose is "to achieve equal consideration and respect for animals, and the abolition of animal slavery". This statement takes to question speciesism, the view that animals have the same...
- RescateAbierto.org - Spanish Open Rescue Team by Animal EqualityAnimal EqualityAnimal Equality .-Biography:Igualdad Animal is an international non-profit animal rights organization whose purpose is "to achieve equal consideration and respect for animals, and the abolition of animal slavery". This statement takes to question speciesism, the view that animals have the same...
(in Spanish) - rescate-abierto.org - Spanish Open Rescue Team by EquanimalEquanimalEquanimal is a Spanish non profit animal rights organization. Comes from the fusion in 2006 of "Alternativa para la Liberación Animal" and "Derechos para los Animales" .They focus on anything they consider against animal exploitation, such as animal testing, fur farms and the use of fur as...
(in Spanish) - Michal Kolesár, open rescue activist