American arrested for walking pet cow in Moscow says she was targeted

EXCLUSIVE: ‘They want to make an example of an American.’ Vegan activist, 34, jailed and banned from Russia for 40 years for walking her pet calf in Moscow’s Red Square says she was ‘targeted’ and made to sign a false confession

• Alicia Day, 34, was convicted of staging a protest and resisting arrest after leading her pet calf named Doctor through Moscow’s Red Square on February 1
• She was fined 20,000 rubles ($USD 266), sentenced to 13 days in prison, and deported to Istanbul after Russian authorities believed she was demonstrating
• The New York native, who was also banned from Russia for 40 years, believes she was targeted because of her nationality, and now plans to challenge the ban

The American animal activist jailed for walking her pet calf through Red Square says she was made to sign a false confession and believes she was targeted by the Putin regime due to her nationality.

Alicia Day, 34, was convicted of staging a protest and resisting arrest after leading a Holstein Friesian calf named Doctor through the Moscow landmark on February 1.

The New York City native was handed a 20,000 ruble [$266] fine, 13 days in the notorious Sakharovo Special Detention Center and was deported to Istanbul, Turkey, on Thursday – two days after leaving jail.

American animal activist Alicia Day, 34, was fined 20,000 rubles (USD$266), sentenced to 13 days in the notorious Sakharovo Special Detention Center in Moscow, and last Thursday was deported to Istanbul, Turkey for her alleged crimes

Day was convicted of staging a protest and resisting arrest after Russian authorities believed she was demonstrating when she walked her pet calf named Doctor through Moscow’s Red Square on February 1

Day appeared at a February 1 court hearing in Moscow where she denied the charges before a judge 

Day has also been banned from entering Russia for 40 years – a decision she now plans to challenge so she can return to visit Doctor and her other cows Luyba and Niusha.

News of her incarceration came days after the State Department warned Americans not to travel to Russia over fears that the authorities could target them due to their US citizenship.

Now, speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Day said she believes she too was targeted for being American, was convicted on trumped up charges, and was handed a lengthy ban from the country as a result.

She said: ‘The thing is, I was walking a cow – I’m an activist, I love animals, I love to show people my animals and that’s why I’m talking to you right now.

‘It allows people to see farm animals in a different manner. But I was absolutely not demonstrating – I was walking for less than five minutes.

‘I did sign a statement and the statement said nothing about demonstrating, but the following day, the higher ups changed my story and said I was screaming slogans like ‘animals are not food’. 

‘That was not true and I did say in court that was not true.’

She added: ‘I got a fine, and ok, that’s fine, but the second part was they said I resisted arrest – they said I refused to show my passport and I refused to go into the police station.

‘That is completely untrue because they have weapons and I don’t, so what am I going to do? 

‘I said that and they slapped me with that the following day after my initial arrest. 

Day said she was shocked when officers approached her because, she claimed, she had no intention of protesting and had only been walking her pet for ‘less than five minutes’ 

Her arrest has also resulted in a 40-year ban from Russia – a decision Day says she now plans to challenge so she can return to visit Doctor and her other cattle Luyba and Niusha

Day was moved to Poland after the invasion of Ukraine before making her way over to Russia, where she said she bought the calf online

‘I said to the judge, it’s not true so I’m not sure why you’re saying I did it. Then the judge issued a statement saying, we don’t believe you’re honest and that was that.

‘That’s why I was there [in jail] for 13 days.’

Day, who is now planning to challenge the 40-year travel ban, continued: ‘I do think they want to make an example of an American.

‘I don’t hold it against them but I’m a human being and I want to see my cows before they die.’

A vegetarian since the age of 12 when a school friend in San Jose, California, told her how animals can suffer on industrial farms, Day says her mission is to show people who have never had contact with farm animals that ‘there’s a different way to treat them’.

Day, who last hit the headlines when she moved her pet pig into her London apartment before being told to hand it over to the RSPCA in 2019, has been living in Poland for the last two years but decided to visit Russia after making friends online last summer.

She said: ‘Last year in the summer I came because I met some friends on the internet and that’s what motivated that.

‘I just bought two cows because I have so much love for farm animals, I can’t help buying them because the thought of them dying makes me cry. I’m not ashamed to say that.’

Day said she had no intention of protesting in Red Square and that it came as a shock when cops swooped on her as she walked with Doctor.

She said: ‘I absolutely didn’t think I’d be arrested. Absolutely not. I literally thought what’s the big deal? I’m going to pick up the poop.

‘I actually thought what the action would be we’d get there, go for a walk and go. So, when the cops first approached me, that was a shock.’

The animal lover became a vegetarian at the age of 12 when a school friend in San Jose, California, taught her about animal cruelty on industrial farms

Day made headlines in 2019, when she moved a pet pig into her London apartment before being told to hand it over to the British animal welfare charity, the RSPCA

Day, who had been living in Poland for the last two years, has had various farm animals as pets, including a black lamb Franek who has now died

While in custody, she was ordered to write a statement but discovered it had been changed by ‘higher ups’ when she appeared in court the following day – and was convicted of protest as a result.

Then she discovered she had also been charged with resisting arrest and, despite telling the judge it was untrue, was convicted of that too after the judge said she was not ‘honest’.

Day was then taken to the Sakharovo Special Detention Center outside Moscow – a facility that became notorious in April 2021 when it was used to house some of the thousands of protesters who turned out after dissident Alexei Navalny was jailed.

There, she says, she was housed in a cell that contained three to five prisoners at any one time and was fed a monotonous diet of vegetable soup, porridge and bread.

Despite knowing of Navalny’s plight and that of US basketball star Brittany Griner, Day says she was not terrified but ‘concerned’ by her incarceration.

She said: ‘At any one time, there were three to five of us. There was a turnover. Most of the people were repeat offenders waiting to serve longer sentences, waiting for their trial. Drug related or alcohol induced, hooliganism or whatever.

‘There were bunk beds. We had a mattress, blankets and they gave us clean sheets. Actually, they didn’t really give us clothes so I was naked most of the time because I didn’t want my clothes to smell.

‘Finally, after about five days, they gave me a bath robe to wear because they were tired of looking at my body.’

She says she was allowed to shower five times a day but wasn’t allowed visitors because her jailers ‘were afraid of the press’.

Day was also allowed daily walks around the prison yard and says it was there she met her now-boyfriend – a Russian cop who she has asked not to name and who is now helping her with her appeal against being banned from Russia.

She said: ‘I have no idea how long this will take but I’m going to try and live in positivity that something might be done.

Day said she immediately removed Doctor from Red Square and did everything the police said

The Sakharova Detention Center where Alicia Day was imprisoned for 13 days. ‘They didn’t really give us clothes so I was naked most of the time because I didn’t want my clothes to smell,’ she said

The Sakharovo Special Detention Center where Day was held, gained notoriety for in 2021 when it was used to house some of the thousands of protesters who turned out after dissident Alexei Navalny was jailed

A video still shows Alicia Day taking her pig for a walk

‘What I heard from other people, people with drug convictions, violent crimes – they get a five-year ban. This was a political decision and I just hope it can be changed.’

Day says as soon as she was released from Sakhorovo, she was taken to an immigration court and denied a lawyer before being smuggled out the back in a bid to dodge waiting media.

She was then allowed to hole up in a Moscow apartment for two days with her boyfriend while making travel plans – and then escorted onto a flight to Istanbul on Thursday evening by officials.

Now staying at a hotel in Istanbul, she says she is planning her next steps – a possible return to New York to see her parents or moving back to Poland.

She is also contemplating getting a full-time job and would like to buy some land to start her own animal sanctuary in future.

Day said: ‘My dad says he would buy me some land in five years if I stay in the same country, but I have to make up my mind.

‘I’m thinking of getting a job because I usually spend several hours a day in the gym so I don’t have time to work but I’m thinking of getting a job just to take my mind off this appeal thing, and also in case my dad changes his mind as well.’

She also hopes her story will shed light on the plight of farm animals worldwide and will encourage people to eat less meat.

Day said: ‘What I want people to know is there’s another way to treat animals. We can treat farm animals with love.

‘Just consider opening our hearts to the idea that these animals have so much love to give. That’s what I want to tell people.’

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