Animal rights activists didn't pay the money promised
Do you remember the Danish chickens? The story about noise vs transparency and promises vs actions? A quick recap: last November, the animal rights association Anima promised 500,000 Danish kroner to the farmer who dared to open the doors of his farm to show their animals. The chicken breeder Solveig Nõrmark and her husband Jens Kristian accepted with pleasure the challenge at the initiative of the Danish Agriculture & Food Council, opening the doors of their chicken coop. They proudly showed their reality 24 hours a day via live webcams, streaming from their chicken farm for 34 days, more than 800 hours.
Despite the evidence, the animal rights activists finally decided to pay a tiny part of the promised compensation: only 50,000 Danish kroner. The 500,000 were supposed to go to the children of the Christmas stamp homes at Julemærkehjemmene, while now they will receive just 30,000 kroner. The remaining 20,000 will be given to the OASA animal rights organization that had a legal dispute with Danish Agriculture & Food Council.
According to what Anima stated in a press release, the initiative of the Danish Agriculture & Food Council to broadcast live to the public what is happening in the chicken coop was appreciated. Still, they said they had some doubts about transparency. “The initiative lands a good distance away from what we called for”, comments Thorbjõrn Schiõnning, communications manager at Anima: “We want to go all the way into the barn and record up close and follow the individual chicken. That is why our original offer with a bounty of half a million kroner for free access is still in force”.
Martin Hjort Jensen, chairman of Danish Agriculture and Food, Poultry, disagrees: “We are very sorry that they [Anima] ended up with DKK 30,000 on behalf of the Christmas Stamp Foundation and the children”. The breeder Solveig Nõrmark who opened her chicken farm to Anima is also disappointed: “I have never done it for the sake of the bounty, but I would like to hope that the Christmas stamp homes had received the bounty of 500,000 kroner. It is an excellent cause and a place with a good need for money”.
“We have proudly, openly, and unedited shown the reality via live streaming from a broilers house for 34 days, that is, for more than 800 hours of film“, says Henrik Søndergaard Nielsen from the Danish Agriculture & Food Council: “The live streaming showed the chickens in two different angles. One closeup in the height of a chicken and one giving an overview of the stable. Furthermore, we showed the data related to the stable, water – and feed consumption and the total number of chickens in the stable by the day. We have brought facts to the fore, but the question is whether Anima was interested in facts or just wanted a marketing stunt. That they will now give DKK 30,000, the 6 per cent of the bounty, says it all. We don’t see why Anima is still offering a bounty of DKK 500.000 as we have already provided the public with the best access possible. Maybe the proper conditions that we have streamed unedited did not meet their predefined false picture of modern chicken farming?”
The truth is that animal rights activism is essentially just a megabusiness. They look like moderate and non-profit associations aiming to improve the welfare of animals, but their actual goals go much deeper, with extreme forms of activism. All animal rights extremist organizations have the same goal of eliminating animal agriculture and taking meat, milk, poultry, and eggs off our tables. They also finance projects supported with a lot of funding. To mention a few examples, some of the most active groups bring in more than $650 million in income annually. The flow of funds connects these organizations through sponsorships and grants awarded to one another.
PETA, for example, is connected to the extreme group Direct Action Everywhere (DXE) as a sponsor of DXE’s 2021 Animal Liberation Conference. They use the farm “rescues,” where activists will openly trespass onto a farm and steal an animal with the support of PETA. Also, Animal Liberation Front (ALF) is one of the most extreme groups, identified as a “domestic terrorist” by the FBI. Their actions include breaking, releasing animals, and destroying property. Sensitive organizations like HSUS recruit vandals involved in ALF. No matter the organization’s public appearance, most animal rights groups chase the same goal and support each other, including destruction, harassment, trespassing, and stealing. From Danish Children’s charities, too?