Farmers shouldn’t have to suffer these fools

Farmers are resorting to posing as animal activists online to infiltrate groups which threaten their livelihoods, writes Ed Gannon. They shouldn’t have to.

The animal activist movement has gone from being loopy to downright dangerous.

In the past week they have escalated their behaviour to a point it should concern all of us.

Hot on the heels of their recent invasion of the Gippy Goat Cafe farm at Yarragon and revelations they are asking for donations to fund illegal activities came news last week that Animals Australia had paid a ship worker to film sheep suffering on the Awassi Express in 2017.

That the ship worker offered to turn off fans to accentuate the suffering is a damning indictment of the tactics of Animals Australia and calls into question the validity of the footage that has crippled an industry.

And then, to top it off, a mob mischievously calling itself Aussie Farms on the weekend publicly released an interactive map of Australian farms and agricultural businesses such as abattoirs, encouraging fellow activists to add to the 6000 businesses on the maps and upload footage and pictures.

RELATED: Animal activists ‘paying for pain

Protesters on roof of Strath Meats Abbatoir, at Strathalbyn late last year. Picture: Dean Martin/AAP

Footage and pictures that can come only from activists entering farms or businesses.

The map shows how much of a threat activists could now pose to all farmers.

“Could” being the operative word, because despite a claimed eight years of development, the map is still pretty scant on details.

And even less so on why it exists.

Aussies Farms says it was created “to force transparency on an industry dependent on secrecy”.

That must come as a surprise to nearly every farmer.

No farmer is making a secret of how a cow is raised and then milked, about the breeding strategies of beef cattle and what happens to them at the end of their lives or how wool is removed from sheep.

Even those “nasty” industries, as activists would have it — broiler, egg and pig farms and abattoirs — have no qualms in telling consumers their stories.

Hundreds of animal-related businesses have been pinpointed on a map created by animal activist group Aussie Farms.

Paul Sheedy, manager of Radford Meats at Warragul, which is listed on the map, told The Weekly Times that Radfords had always been an “open house abattoir” and was transparent with its animal welfare and traceability programs.

He said it was “very concerning” activists were encouraging people to potentially trespass on farms and abattoirs.

Most farms and farm businesses don’t invite visitors willy-nilly on to their premises. But that has nothing to do with secrecy, but everything to do with biosecurity.

The disease threat of a visitor is a huge concern for farmers.

But that hasn’t sunk in yet with the activists who think they are caring for animals by entering farms and putting the welfare of those same animals at risk.

And the accusation of secrecy is rich coming from balaclava-clad interlopers who live behind digital pseudonyms as they plot their next Instagram-perfect adventure.

Farmers shouldn’t have to suffer these fools. And at least one farmer isn’t, admitting he is now posing as an activist online to infiltrate groups and thwart their protests. He reckons he has stopped three farm invasions in the past five months.

But a lone wolf is not going to change a tide of activism that appears to be growing

It is time the government realised it is not acceptable for trespassers to interrupt legitimate businesses, threatening animal welfare, incomes and family safety.

It is time that they gave the police the resources to crack down on that sort of activity. And it is time for the courts to treat those offences with the seriousness they deserve.

If this appalling map is not a jolt for action, it doesn’t bear thinking what the catalyst will eventually be.

Ed Gannon is editor of The Weekly Times and co-host of The Ag Show on Sky Business News.

@EdgannonWtn

Originally published as Farmers shouldn’t have to suffer these fools