‘I’ve been charged 22 times’: Meet the glamorous vegan activist who insists on breaking into farms to ‘rescue’ animals – despite the threat of jail time
- Vegan animal rights activist Leah Doellinger has been charged 22 times
- She said she would continue to break into farms to expose inhumane treatment
- Ms Doellinger organises mass trespasses to ‘rescue’ animals from factory farms
- She was charged with trespassing and stealing piglets from a piggery last year
A vegan activist who has been charged with 22 times in two years insists she will continue to stage protests, break into factory farms and rescue animals.
Brisbane animal rights activist Leah Doellinger, who has over 36,000 followers on Instagram, has been hauled before the courts over a dozen times since 2017.
Ms Doellinger films herself trespassing onto factory farms around Australia in a bid to raise awareness about what she claims are inhumane conditions inside.
She is also the founder of ‘Meat The Victims’, a group that plans mass trespasses on animal farms to film what’s happening inside.
‘I take people into these farms to show them exactly what is happening so we can gain the footage and share it with the public,’ she told Yahoo News.
‘I’ve been charged 22 times since the end of 2017.’
Vegan activist Leah Doellinger (pictured) has been charged 22 times for her vegan activism and remains resolute in continuing her advocacy
Leah Doellinger and Brianna Thauer (pictured) have both been charged multiple times for trespassing onto factory farms and posting the locations of the farms on social media
Ms Doellinger said most of the time the farmers had no idea she was there with other activists trying to uncover instances of animal abuse.
‘It’s only when we do a daylight action, and we purposefully want the attention, that they will know we’re there.’
Ms Doellinger took to Instagram on February 6 to encourage other activists not to be scared of a jail sentence, listing a group of friends who had been raided by police in recent weeks.
‘This is unjust and mental, but it is powerful. It means we are having an impact on these industries and their blood money,’ she wrote.
‘This is the end for them and they can feel it. They can no longer keep their secrets hidden away where no one can see or hear the innocent begging for mercy but we can feel them and that is why we won’t stop.’
Ms Doellinger (pictured) in 2018 with a calf she ‘rescued’: ‘Heartbreaking footage to come, taken from their Mother’s left starving to be murdered so humans can have their milk’
Ms Doellinger was charged with trespassing and stealing six piglets from a Queensland piggery in November after posting the location of the farm on social media.
Her friend and fellow activist Brianna Lee Thauer pleaded guilty to charges and received a good behaviour bond.
Ms Doellinger is reportedly planning to fight the charges.
It comes after Attorney-General Christian Porter proposed harsh new criminal sanctions for ‘vigilante’ activists using social media to incite criminal trespassing and financial damage to agricultural land.
Mr Porter pledged for up to 12-month jail terms under a new offence ‘specifically designed to protect Australian farmers’ from ‘vigilante action’.
Attorney-General Christian Porter has proposed harsh new criminal sanctions for ‘vigilante’ activists like Ms Doellinger (pictured) using social media to incite criminal trespassing and financial damage to agricultural land