Charges related to slaughterhouse crash dropped against Pig Save activist

An animal activist recently found not guilty of mischief for giving water to pigs has cleared another legal hurdle. Charges of obstructing police that arose from a separate incident outside a Burlington slaughterhouse have been dropped.

Anita Krajnc, founder of Toronto Pig Save, faced charges after a vigil Oct. 5 outside Fearman's Pork Inc. A truck transporting pigs crashed, resulting in numerous pigs getting loose. Krajnc was arrested after she got closer to take photos.

The dropped charges come a week after Krajnc was found not guilty of mischief for a 2015 incident where she gave water to pigs in a trailer outside the same slaughterhouse.

The charge led to a multi-day trial wherein Krajnc's lawyers, James Silver and Gary Grill, argued she was acting in the public good, and that pigs should be considered persons. Her lawyers and supporters even made comparisons to Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

Silver also represented Krajnc on the obstruction charge.

As many as 180 pigs died in the Oct. 5 crash. The truck carrying them flipped over, and the squeals of pigs filled the air.

Slaughterhouse workers walked the surviving pigs who could still move across the parking lot to the plant to be slaughtered.

The 25-year-old driver was charged with careless driving.

In a media release Thursday, Toronto Pig Save said supporters asked for two of the pigs to be released to a waiting sanctuary that day, but the pigs were shot.