David E. Gumpert has the scoop on what’s going down with Michael Schmidt:
Photo courtesy of Michael Schmidt
“The legal situation confronting Michael Schmidt could hardly look more ominous.
He faces four counts of conspiracy, in connection with the disappearance last April of 31 rare Shropshire sheep suspected by Canadian health authorities of harboring scrapies disease. Conviction could mean a lengthy jail term of up to 14 years, he has been told. Three other farmers charged in the alleged plot to move the sheep and save them from mandated slaughter by the Canadian Food Information Agency (CFIA) are Montana Jones, Suzanne Atkinson, and Robert Pinnell.
Schmidt has been forced to surrender his passport in connection with the charges–a not insignificant penalty for a man who has over the last few years become the spiritual leader of North America’s budding food rights movement, and been in ever-greater demand as a speaker around the U.S. and Canada. Continue reading
The Bovine 