Unscrupulous activists don't deserve donations

The best way to stop this madness is to starve them of funds.

WORRYING TIMES: Peter Gleeson says the entire farming industry is under threat from over-zealous activists.. Picture: MEAD LEON

ANIMALS Australia has been caught red-handed with its fingers in the lolly jar.

Its behaviour is a disgrace and it should be investigated by the charity watchdog.

We learned in recent days that Animals Australia was sending emails to so-called whistleblowers appealing for them to leak footage of cruelty on ships with promises of lucrative payments.

These people even offered to cut off ventilation and the exhaust fan to ensure the images were more confronting.

The footage is then leaked by Animals Australia to the ABC or Sixty Minutes, sparking calls for the closure of the live export industry.

Other animal activist groups use the same modus operandi to attempt to close down the greyhound industry.

Nobody would ever condone cruelty to animals.

It is abhorrent and as humans we should always be vigilant to ensure we don't hurt animals.

But what the animal activist zealots can't accept is that the live sheep export and greyhound industries are not just capable of reform, they are well advanced in regulations that clean up their act.

If animal activists had their way, they'd close down all animal husbandry industries, effectively throwing Australia's farming industry to the scrapheap.

So while Animals Australia bosses sit in their CBD ivory tower plotting the downfall of our farming industry, they are using their charitable donations to pay off people with illegally obtained video footage.

These are the same people who want to turn all humans into vegans by 2050. No meat.

In fact, their brethren in the UK has come out and recommended the daily meat allowance for all people should be 14 grams a day. The average steak is 300 grams.

That's a steak a month, according to vegan-friendly UK scientists, who say it's about saving the planet.

A mob called PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - believes white milk is a symbol of white supremacists.

You can't make this stuff up.

Last weekend in Surfers Paradise, animal activists were holding court with TV screens, showing little chicks being beheaded at a poultry farm.

You could see little kids turning away in horror.

The best way to stop this madness is to starve them of funds. But they are smart and sophisticated in the way they raise money.

And unfortunately the naive and gullible are easily led, rebels with a cause, unable to grasp the enormity of what it would do to Australia's economy if we wiped out farming or industries like racing.

And it's not just animal activism. These people are embedding themselves into mining companies to garner intelligence to be used as part of their campaigns.

They are paying the fines of illegal protesters.

Australia needs a comprehensive legal framework to stop these people.

The time has come for the silent majority to stand up to them.

If you're in the bush, write to your local Federal MP urging them to stand up to these spoilers.

They are anti-progress. They are anti-jobs. They are anti-Australian.

Originally published as Unscrupulous activists don't deserve donations