Farmers should be concerned about animal activists’ receiving donations

IT’S a weird world when activists think it is OK to break the law to attack farmers, it’s observed in this EDITORIAL.

EDITORIAL: All farmers should be concerned about today’s revelation that activists are receiving donations to trespass on farms and steal livestock. Picture: Instagram

IT’S a weird world when activists think it is OK to break the law to attack farmers.

It is even weirder when some members of the public think it is OK to fund that illegal activity.

All farmers should be concerned about today’s revelation that activists are receiving donations to trespass on farms and steal livestock.

ACTIVISTS SEEK PUBLIC DONATIONS TO STEAL LIVESTOCK

FURTHER ARRESTS OVER ANIMAL ACTIVIST ALLEGED LIVESTOCK THEFTS

These attacks go to the very core of the rights of farmers to go about their legitimate business of feeding and clothing everyone.

What this reveals is an alarming trend that the radical activists’ views are gaining a wider foothold.

It is a startling demonstration of the growing gulf between what farmers do and what some members of the public think they do.

It is a brush that is tarring all farmers — livestock or not.

Just ask NSW cotton farmers after they were last week blamed by many for the recent death of fish in the lower Darling River.

END BLAME GAME ON FISH KILL

It is frightening that activists now consider themselves above the law.

Some boast that even on bail they still commit illegal acts.

These people do not care. They do not care about farmers and their families. They do not care about the cost of their actions to the wider community. They do not care about the welfare of the animals they steal. And they do not care about the law.

And if they are caught they often receive light penalties — a written apology in at least two cases.

A RUNNING BATTLE TO KEEP INTRUDERS OUT

Farming needs to think of where it now sits in community perception.

To dismiss activists as mere fringe radicals is no longer enough. The fact they are now getting the public to fund their activities should concern all.