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Animal Ag Alliance warns of new activist tactics
The Animal Agriculture Alliance is warning farmers and ranchers about new tactics being used by animal rights activists.
Alliance communications manager Casey Whitaker says there have been reports of activists breaking into farms and, in some cases, stealing animals.
“It’s happened all over the country, on hog, broiler and turkey farms—every kind of operation,” Whitaker says. “So really no matter what you raise, you really need to be vigilant, because you could be the next target.”
Whitaker says activist groups are also getting behind efforts to produce “lab-grown meat”—cultured meat grown from animal cells.
“This product in and of itself is not the issue. It’s the marketing that’s the issue,” she says. “What they’re doing is promoting their lab-grown meat as, quote-unquote, ‘clean meat’. It kind of puts the term ‘traditional meat’ in a negative light. Because their goal is to put traditionally, conventionally produced meat out of business.”
Another ongoing tactic, Whitaker says, is using religion to promote a vegan agenda. She says some churches have urged members to abstain from eating meat and to oppose modern animal agriculture for “moral” reasons.
“These activist groups are tapping into their feelings of compassion and guilt so they can push their vegan agenda. They’re basically telling people what the Bible says, in their words. They’re cherry-picking scripture.”
Whitaker spoke with Brownfield at the recent Cattle Industry Convention in Phoenix.
AUDIO: Casey Whitaker
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