Wayne Hsiung’s Landmark Animal Rescue Appeal Wins Some, Loses Some: What It Means for the Right to Rescue

Animal law attorney and activist Wayne Hsiung joins host Mariann Sullivan along with attorneys Chris Carraway and Steffen Seitz of the University of Denver’s Animal Activist Legal Defense Project to break down the California Court of Appeals decision in Hsiung’s criminal case—a pivotal ruling that overturned two of three trespass convictions stemming from actions at Sunrise Farms and Reichardt Duck Farm, while leaving critical legal questions about the necessity defense unresolved. The group also previews a potential California Supreme Court battle and provides updates on Zoe Rosenberg’s appeal and the Ridglan Farms beagle rescue prosecution in Wisconsin.

• Necessity defense left in limbo: The appellate court declined to rule definitively on whether harm to animals can qualify as a “significant evil,” instead defeating the defense on narrow imminence grounds—creating a circular legal standard that punishes activists for both planning too much and failing to exhaust alternatives.
• Mistake of law defense wins: The court agreed Wayne was entitled to present evidence that he genuinely believed the necessity doctrine made his actions lawful, a ruling the prosecution is now asking the California Supreme Court to overturn.
• First Amendment challenge to trespass statute: A novel argument that a California trespass law is unconstitutionally content-based—because it exempts labor organizers but not animal rights advocates—was poorly addressed by the appellate court and remains a live issue.
• Ridglan Farms prosecution underway in Wisconsin: Wayne and co-defendants face four felony counts including burglary and theft connected to the March 2025 rescue of 30 beagles from the notorious research facility; trial is currently set for January 2027.
• Dogs as a bridge to broader animal advocacy: Wayne argues that widespread social connection to companion animals—combined with the mainstream visibility of the Ridglan campaign—is creating a meaningful pathway to expanded concern for farmed and laboratory animals across the political spectrum.

ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Chris Carraway is an attorney and an activist. Before joining the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, he was a lead attorney in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender. There, Chris defended cases ranging from low-level misdemeanors to first-degree murder, participated in over 60 jury trials, and litigated cases in the Colorado Court of Appeals and Colorado Supreme Court. Chris graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was president of the student chapters for the National Lawyers Guild and the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund. Before that, Chris began his involvement in animal rights activism in his hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina­—doing outreach, defendant and prisoner support, and organizing local campaigns against the selling of foie gras and fur. Witnessing the criminalization of animal rights activism in the 00’s compelled him to go to law school. Chris brings his experience as a defense attorney and his passion for animal rights to the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project.

Steffen Seitz is a litigation fellow for the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, where he represents animal advocates and whistleblowers in a variety of proceedings and conducts academic research. Steffen graduated from Yale Law School in May 2023. As a law student, Steffen was a member of the Yale Animal Law Society and a Law Ethics and Animal Program Student Fellow. He also worked as a legal extern on animal activist cases, particularly those involving the right to rescue. Steffen is interested in criminal law, animal law, social movements, and their intersections.

Wayne Hsiung is an animal rights lawyer, co-founder of The Simple Heart Initiative and Direct Action Everywhere, and former faculty member at Northwestern School of Law. He has served as lead counsel—and sometimes defendant—in five “right to rescue” trials, investigated and rescued animals from factory farms and slaughterhouses globally, and published on animal law in the Harvard Law Review and University of Pennsylvania Law Review. His work has been covered by The New York Times, WIRED, ABC’s Nightline, and The Ezra Klein Show. Follow his work at simpleheart.org.

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