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Iowa hog farm contends with animal activists

An Iowa pork producer says being forced to euthanize hogs is stressful enough without also having to contend with animal activists.

Jen Sorenson with Iowa Select Farms says a group of activists gained access to one of their farms this week.

“Not surprisingly, animal activists are trying to exploit this challenge that hog farmers are faced with, to advance their own agenda. Earlier this week they infiltrated a farm used by our company to euthanize, and proceeded to taunt, harass and videotape our team members,” Sorenson says.

“I think their strategy was to try and embarrass our farmers, to catch them off guard and catch their reactions on video. It was just an unfortunate situation that happened to the people at the farm that were already under a tremendous amount of stress.”

Sorenson says the activists were very aggressive, returning several times after being told to leave. She calls it a “sad and disappointing” situation.

Sorenson declined to name the group involved, saying he doesn’t want to give them any publicity.