While ballot initiatives aren’t common in rural areas, farmers should take note of what’s happening in other cities – even across the country – because there’s a chance an activist movement in one area will eventually become a problem in another.
For example, an upcoming Denver, CO, ballot measure will ban livestock processing facilities in the city, if passed. As is the case for nearly every animal and livestock-related ballot measure, animal activists are behind the effort. Hannah Thompson-Weeman, president and CEO of Animal Agriculture Alliance, said the activist group Pro-Animal Future (PAF) is responsible for spearheading the measure in Denver.
“They’ve sprung up fairly recently and seem to be heavily focused on the idea of localized ballot measure campaigns,” said Thompson-Weeman, describing the group that came onto the activist scene about a year ago. “Right now they’re focused in Denver, but they have plans to move out of the area.”
PAF is an offshoot of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), a known extremist group. DxE was founded about 10 years ago by Wayne Hsiung. Hsiung has been charged multiple times for various crimes, including animal-related felonies, but continues to operate as an activist.
It’s important to understand more about DxE and its influence because their reach is nationwide and has affected a farming community in New York State. DxE’s featured activity is “open rescue,” in which they blatantly breach farms and steal livestock while filming the activity. These activists believe they have a right to take animals they deem to be “suffering” in the name of preventing harm.
Thompson-Weeman said PAF is intentionally trying to distance itself from DxE due to the extreme actions of the latter. However, as is the case with nearly every activist group, many of the leaders in PAF have a history with DxE.
Here’s where the boomerang effect proves the reach and serious nature of activist efforts, and how activists are infiltrating every segment of animal agriculture:
In summer 2022, Scott Gregson, a farmer in Newfane, NY, discovered two beef animals were missing from his farm. The animals eventually showed up at Asha’s Farm Sanctuary in the same town. Sanctuary owner Tracy Murphy cut the ear tags from the animals and refused to return them to Gregson, claiming he couldn’t prove they were his.
After housing the animals for two weeks and being approached by the SPCA, Murphy offered to waive the “boarding fees” she originally charged Gregson. She also offered to purchase the cattle so they wouldn’t go to slaughter. Murphy was charged with third-degree grand larceny and Gregson’s cattle were returned to him. Sanctuary volunteers and donors stood behind Murphy, but local farmers rallied around Gregson to the point of organizing a protest outside Murphy’s sanctuary.
Murphy’s jury trial recently took place in New York, and it’s no coincidence she was represented by DxE founder Hsiung. For the trial, Hsiung was joined by attorneys Louis Mussari and Justin Marceau. Marceau is director of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project and a law professor at the University of Denver Law School. Both are animal activists. Charges against Murphy were eventually reduced and the case was dismissed.
This series of events, from a Colorado ballot initiative to a direct connection to a rural New York animal sanctuary, should concern every livestock owner as animal activist groups continue to grow, expand their reach and swap out members.
“We’re seeing a lot of the same people pop up under a different name,” said Thompson-Weeman. “Last year we added the Accountability Board to the Alliance’s activist web [link below], which is two former HSUS-ers who have spun off to focus on investor engagement. As people become more familiar with the main activist groups and more savvy about who they are and their true intentions, they have less influence, so they pop up under a new name. Nobody knows the name and it sounds innocuous.”
However, as the truth comes out, they change names and personnel and present a new persona. Unfortunately, most people don’t recognize the names of newly formed activist groups.
While many people have heard of PETA and HSUS and their illicit activities, Thompson-Weeman said activism is much bigger. “PETA is who everyone in the animal agriculture community and even the general public tend to see and hear the most from,” she said. “PETA and other groups are very up front in saying they want to end animal agriculture. They want the food system to shift to veganism.”
Other activist groups position themselves as more “moderate,” with a focus on animal welfare instead of animal rights. “It’s a very intentional strategy,” she said. “They make themselves seem more professional and more reasonable to be taken seriously and get in the door of the board room, courtroom and to our restaurant retail customers. The web shows how funding, projects and collaboration of staff and volunteers are flowing back and forth between all these groups. The true intention is the same even if they take different paths to get there.”
Another example of activism reach is in Sonoma County, CA, a significant agriculture county, where a ballot initiative is pushing to ban “factory farms” – farms that qualify as CAFOs. Thompson-Weeman said they have backing from close to 50 activist groups including DxE and PAF. If this measure is successful, it will remove food choices for many residents. Worse, success in one area drives activists to other areas, often under different names.
“For activists, people talking about a ballot initiative is a victory, so unfortunately, we’re going to see this more and more,” she said. “They will move it to the county and state level – it’s about setting a precedent they can continue to expand until ultimately, animal agriculture isn’t sustainable. That’s the end goal.”
The most active animal activist groups are bringing in more than $800 million annually through campaigns. “The amounts of funds that go to any type of actual on-the-ground support for animals is extremely miniscule,” said Thompson-Weeman. “People see the commercials with sad puppies and sad kittens and think that’s where their money is going, but unfortunately, most of it goes for public campaigns and lobbying, many of which are focused on animal agriculture.”
Animal Ag Alliance efforts are based on consumer choice. “The vast majority of people enjoy eating meat, poultry, dairy and seafood,” said Thompson-Weeman. “They should be able to keep doing that and feel confident doing so. We believe there should be options available to consumers. Whatever production practices people want to support is great because there’s a farmer behind each one. But that doesn’t mean other shoppers should have to conform to those values, and with a lot of the measures being pushed by extremist groups, it’s ultimately about taking choices off the table and driving up the cost of animal protein.”
The activist web that shows how activist groups are connected is at animalagalliance.org/initiatives/monitoring-activism.
by Sally Colby
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