Stand firm against activist demands

In mid-November, a protest was held outside of a hog farm in Utah as part of the Animal Liberation Western Convergence. Again, the group called for “just one pig” to be released to them. In rural Iowa last week, a car started following a truckload of pigs being moved from one farm to another. When the truck stopped, the car’s driver got out and began to beg for one of the pigs to be released to her. Over the weekend, a large group of protesters went to a dairy farm in California where they attempted to steal a calf earlier this year. They brought a blanket and a bottle and shared their intention to get the farm to give them a calf.All of these incidents have a few things in common – the involvement of activist group Direct Action Everywhere and the call for animals to be released. DXE has started consistently demanding for animals to be released to them from farms, emboldened by an officer who let them take one chicken in an October protest and a farm who gave 100 animals to the group in November.While it may be tempting to try to get the group to leave by allowing them to take an animal, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we do not give in to their demands. Giving this group an animal significantly weakens our attempts to convey why their actions are unacceptable. DXE members have appeared on camera saying “how can they press charges against us for taking animals when they gave us one?” Allowing them to take animals gives the impression that what they are doing is justified – at least in their eyes.