The hallmark of Jonathan Paul's life is personal responsibility.
When he learned that mink were being inhumanely treated, he took it upon himself to infiltrate and expose that industry. When he learned of the cruelty being suffered by laboratory animals, he took it upon himself to liberate them. When old-growth forests were threatened with destruction, he put his body between the trees and the chainsaws. When the moratorium on whale-hunting was breached, he put himself between the hunters and the hunted. And when he saw that wild horses - the personification of the American spirit - were being cruelly slaughtered, he acted to stop the slaughter.
Mr. Paul's guilty plea today, and the terms of the agreement that made it possible, are two more manifestations of his life-long commitment to personal responsibility. Mr. Paul alone is responsible for his decision to assault the Cavel West slaughterhouse. He appreciates the government's recognition of this by allowing him to accept that responsibility without expecting him to blame or insisting that he implicate others.
When Mr. Paul saw the flames engulf the Cavel West slaughterhouse in Redmond, Oregon, he realized that fire was an unacceptable means to an end, no matter how compelling. He immediately abandoned arson as a valid way of making the mistreatment of animals unprofitable.
Mr. Paul has been, and will continue to be, a person deeply committed to the betterment of our society and the elimination of animal and human suffering. Since 1997, a major focus of his life has been fighting fire, qualifying as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician. Perhaps his greatest fear in acknowledging his responsibility for the arson at Cavel West is that it may disqualify him from continuing to serve in these ways.
Mr. Paul retains the hope that humans will embrace environmental sustainability and renounce animal cruelty and exploitation. He intends to continue to pursue these goals in an ethical and transparent way.
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