Local producers from Corowa, Culcairn, Berrigan, Bungowannah, Coreen and Buraja all feature on a controversial map of farm locations published by an animal activist group this week.
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Rivalea in Corowa alongside Wodonga and Tallangatta abattoirs are also named on the map compiled by Aussie Farms and published on its website and on Facebook.
Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud wants the animal rights group stripped of its charity status after the organisation published the addresses of hundreds of Australian farming families
CEO of Australian Pork Limited (APL) Andrew Spencer warned the map could cause the death of animals and posed biosecurity risks by encouraging vigilantes to break onto properties.
The group encourages users to upload information about farming practices and images of livestock and production.
Aussie Farms states its goal is “fighting to end commercialised animal abuse and exploitation through public education about modern farming and slaughtering practices”.
“We have been dealing with the group for a number of years,” Mr Spencer said.
“They have broken onto somewhere in the vicinity of 50 pig farms already.
“There is a lot of material on their website that totally misrepresents what happens on the farms they break into.
“They tell lies in the name of animal rights but they are actually just an extreme group of vegan ideologues and they will do and say and lie and defame and misrepresent, break the law and do whatever they need to do to put forward their warped world views.
“They have no respect that others may have a different opinion to them and others might have rights of their own.”
Mr Spencer said initial investigations had revealed the map was legal but it was more of a moral issue to remove the database of personal and business details.
“What’s outrageous about this is not the legalities of whether they are allowed to provide personal details and all that – let the lawyers argue about that,” he said.
“But everyone knows why they have done it and that is they want to provide a tool for their followers to use to break the law.
“And that is just outrageously wrong and just anarchy if we let that happen.”
Mr Spencer said the actions of the “dangerous idiots” had already led to damage on properties and the death of at least one animal.
“These people are idiots - dangerous idiots,” he said.
“They have caused enormous damage on pig farms that they have broken into.
“They do stupid things like stealing animals.
“There was a case that went on social media recently when they stole a piglet from a property.
“It hadn’t had a chance to have a drink from its mum and get its colostrum intake and subsequently died. All this was outlined on social media and we look at that and go ‘what do these people actually think they are doing?’
“At the end of the day these groups don’t improve the life of one animal. In fact it is just the opposite.
“If they had their way you could drive from Albury to Melbourne and looking out the window you wouldn’t see an animal – be that a cow, a horse or a sheep.
“That doesn’t sound like a better world for animals to me.”