Two Sentenced for Ontario Raid

FUR COMMISSION USA PRESS RELEASE, FEBRUARY 23, 1999
Two Sentenced for Ontario Raid
TWO MICHIGAN WOMEN have received prison terms and hefty fines for participating in the release of over 1,500 mink from a Canadian farm.
Patricia Dodson, 49, and Hilma Ruby, 61, were sentenced on Feb. 22 for their part in a raid on Eberts Fur Farm, near Chatham, Ontario, in March 1997. All but 60 of the 1,542 mink released were recovered, but almost 500 died of injuries and stress. Damages were assessed at over C$770,000.
Both first-time offenders, Dodson and Ruby were each given 90 days in jail and told to pay restitution of C$34,000 to farmer Tom MacLellan. They each forfeited C$10,000 bail toward paying the fines.
This is the first time a Canadian court has imposed jail terms for such crimes against the fur industry, and the sentences were also stiff for first-timers. Although Justice John Desotti said he did not believe the women led the raid, he was disturbed by the planning it had required, and warned them that any similar activity in future would result in extended jail time.
“It’s the happiest day we’ve had in two years. Maybe there is justice out there,” said an elated MacLellan on hearing the verdict. “It’s one thing to protest, but it’s a whole other thing to destroy people’s businesses and lives.”
Five Americans were arrested in connection with the raid. The last to go to trial, Gary Yourofsky, 28, will appear in court in April. A conflict gypsy who travels widely protesting on a host of animal issues, he faces damages of C$260,000 and 12-18 months in prison.
Footnotes

• On Jan. 26, just days after Dodson and Ruby appeared in court, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. aired a special on an activist who clandestinely filmed Animal Liberation Front leaders in England. The shocking footage may well have affected Justice Desotti’s decision in the Eberts case. Judges don’t work in a vacuum, and Desotti clearly recognizes the threat to society posed by animal rights extremists.
• Representing the defendants in the Eberts case is Clayton Ruby, a high-profile criminal defense attorney who specializes in unusual cases, including his personal challenge to gain access to government files on his anti-war activities, his defense of the Church of Scientology, and his representation of the Ontario Coalition Against Gambling. A major player in the animal law arena, Ruby is now representing a coalition (including Greenpeace and the Animal Alliance of Canada) in challenging Canada’s involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as it relates to endangered species policy. He has also represented the International Fund for Animal Welfare on issues arising out of the hunting of seals. By way of balance, we hear (but have yet to verify) that he also represented Canadian natives prosecuted for taking a moose for personal consumption.
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