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American vegan activist, 34, arrested in Moscow’s Red Square for taking pet calf for a walk

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An American vegan activist has been arrested in Moscow’s Red Square after she took her pet calf called Doctor for a walk through the famous Russian landmark.

Alicia Day, who once kept a pig called Jixy Pixy in a tiny apartment in the UK, was held by Russian police for ‘violation of the established procedure for holding an assembly, rally, demonstration, march or picketing’. 

The 34-year-old American – who has also faced problems with the law in Poland in the past – was fined 20,000 roubles, or $285, for ‘resisting police’ in the Red Square incident. 

According to the case file, she had shouted ‘animals are not food’ in Red Square, where public events are prohibited. Day also allegedly attempted to resist arrest.

Day said: ‘I immediately removed the animal [from Red Square]. Did everything [the police] said. That is why we are sitting here [in detention]’

A picture showed the animal in the back of a van after the incident

Alicia Day is pictured walking her pig Jixy Pixy. Day's landlord in Ealing, West London stopped per from keeping Jixy Pixy in her flat. Day claimed she was giving the animal a good life because she gave him baths and took him to Wagamamas

Alicia Day is pictured (r) walking her pig Jixy Pixy. Day’s landlord in Ealing, West London stopped per from keeping Jixy Pixy in her flat. Pictured left: The calf in the back of a van after the incident

‘I bought the calf so that it wouldn’t be eaten. I decided to take him to such a beautiful place and show him the country,’ she said, according to Russian news agency Tass.

Tass reported that Day had been in Russia since January 21 and worked for an animal protection organization, entering the country using a tourist visa. 

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The agency published a photo of her appearance in court and said that she had pleaded guilty.

She was looking after seven piglets and three calves at a shelter, including the one she was detained with. 

The laws in Russia against demonstrations have become stricter since the start of the war in Ukraine, although Tass said she was not making any political statement with her actions. 

A picture from East2West News showed the animal in the back of a van after the incident.

Day was in Ukraine when the war started and then moved to Poland before making her way over to Russia. 

She said she bought the calf online when she arrived in Russia. 

Footage shows her explaining the decision while in detention

Footage shows her explaining the decision while in detention 

Pictured: Moscow's Red Square. Tass news agency reported that Day had been in Russia since January 21 and worked for an animal protection organization, entering the country using a tourist visa.

Pictured: Moscow’s Red Square. Tass news agency reported that Day had been in Russia since January 21 and worked for an animal protection organization, entering the country using a tourist visa.

Day is in trouble under laws that might be used against anti-Putin demonstrations. 

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Speaking Russian, the American activist, born in New Jersey, told TV channel Zvezda, owned by Vladimir Putin’s defence ministry, that she wanted to show Red Square to her calf called Doctor.

As soon as the police told her to get the animal off the sacred cobble stones, she obeyed, she said.

In the video she said: ‘I immediately removed the animal [from Red Square]

‘Did everything [the police] said.

‘That is why we are sitting here [in detention].’

When asked how she brought the calf to Red Square, she said: ‘By car. I have a driver from Kirov. I paid him to come here. 

‘I wanted to show [the calf] a beautiful place in our beautiful country.’

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Alicia Day - who has also faced problems with the law in Poland in the past - was fined 20,000 roubles, or £230 or $285, over 'resisting police' in the Red Square incident

Alicia Day – who has also faced problems with the law in Poland in the past – was fined 20,000 roubles, or £230 or $285, over ‘resisting police’ in the Red Square incident

Alicia Day, 34, was arrested in Moscow's Red Square after she took her pet calf called Doctor for a walk through the famous Russian landmark

Alicia Day, 34, was arrested in Moscow’s Red Square after she took her pet calf called Doctor for a walk through the famous Russian landmark

While living in the UK, Day’s landlord in Ealing, West London, stopped per from keeping Jixy Pixy in her flat. 

She paid £30 to save the eight-week old animal after seeing him advertised online by a farm which had wanted to sell him to another farm where he would have later been slaughtered.

Day offered to take the pig instead and then spent £400 on a taxi to bring Jixy Pixy to London from Exeter, Devon.

However, her landlord found out about the pig and had to give him over to the RSPCA. 

Day faced criticism from animal rights campaigners for keeping it in her tiny flat but she claimed the animal was living a good life because she gave him baths and took him to Wagamamas.

In Poland, she said she was ‘ashamed’ that another pig named Pupcia was banned from living with her.

She said in May 2021: ‘I went through a very extensive documentation process in order to register as a livestock owner here in Poland.

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‘I started working on that, on day one – pretty much the day after I landed in this country.’

Neighbours had complained that the animal uprooted two lawns in the communal gardens.

In interviews Day said that she has spent thousands of pounds on pigs, which she called her ‘children’. 

She takes them on taxi rides and visits to restaurants.

In Ukraine, she kept a pig and a calf in her rented flat in Dnipro.

Source: Daily Mail

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