anarchy euphoria

One goal for this new year is to take a closer look at what we might call non-human animal resistance. Starting with a few 2021 stories collected and reproduced from mainstream media, here’s an attempt at reporting on some acts of resistance against zoo, slaughterhouse, circus and other institutions of speciesism.

Non-human animal resistance is explicitly described as such even in mainstream media articles, quote: For as long as humans have confined animals, unwilling captives have found ways to break free. Some animals gain long-lasting freedom but occasionally, these animal jailbreaks end in tragedy.

April 19: 3 leopards escaped while their enclosure was being cleaned at the Hangzhou Safari Park in China. One was caught 2 days later, one was on the run for a month before being caught and the third was never seen and never caught again. From mainstream media: Chinese officials sent out 1,700 personnel and almost 1,000 drones to track the third leopard down to no avail, even releasing around 100 chickens as live bait. 

June 16: A runaway ram named Duggy was captured by the district council of New Plymouth in New Zealand after they were trying to head butt walkers on a city path. The ram escaped the animal pound and was never recaptured again.

June 24: After “someone accidentally left a door open”, 40 cows escaped from a slaughterhouse in Pico Rivera in the United States. One cow was murdered by cops, the others were captured again, though one did fight and drag a rancher on the street before being captured. Mainstream media doesn’t say what happened to them afterwards, though it’s likely they were brought back to the slaughterhouse to be murdered.

August 26: 3 zebras fled a Maryland exotic animal farm in the United States and spent months on the run. One was found in September (murdered by an illegal snare trap), the other two roamed free until December 14 when they were caught again. The zebras’ owner was charged with three counts of animal cruelty in October.

November 05: 8 camels and a llama escaped from a circus in Madrid, Spain. They were unfortunately caught back by cops. According to the circus, animal right activist accomplices (who protest against the circus every year) helped the 9 animals escape as an act of sabotage.

November 08: A cow destined for slaughterhouse escaped a cattle ranch in Nova Granada, Brazil. The cow was unfortunately recaptured but escaped death because of going viral for hiding in a waterpark, and was kept as a pet.

December 12: A camel escaped a nativity scene in Kansas, United States. The camel fled from cops chasing them for a day, going wild across golf courses in golf carts, before cops unfortunately caught them again.

December 16: A panda named Meng Lan scaled a six-foot-tall fence at the Beijing Zoo in China, and escaped into a transition zone between their enclosure and the area open to zoo guests. The panda was lured back into their enclosure with food, “without any panda getting injured”. The zoo made a post to explain plans about modifying Meng Lan’s enclosure to “prevent future escape attempts”.

December 17: A cow escaped a slaughterhouse and wandered around in a park of New York City, United States. The cow was then brought to an animal sanctuary.

December 19: A wolf pack escaped their enclosure by destroying safety hatches and climbing over the fence, at the Trois Vallées zoo in Montredon-Labessonnié, France. Unfortunately, 4 of them were murdered by the zoo and the rest caught back by state services (they were in another part of the zoo, and never actually left it). The wolves had only recently arrived to the zoo. The zoo has now been closed until at least mid-january, while it had been ordered to close back in October for “concerns for animal welfare and staff safety“, though the decision was overturned by a court.