{"id":8549,"date":"2019-01-22T14:05:06","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T22:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=8549"},"modified":"2019-01-30T14:15:08","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T22:15:08","slug":"animal-rights-group-accused-of-encouraging-illegal-behaviour-with-map-of-farms-and-abattoirs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2019\/01\/22\/animal-rights-group-accused-of-encouraging-illegal-behaviour-with-map-of-farms-and-abattoirs\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal rights group accused of encouraging &#8216;illegal behaviour&#8217; with map of farms and abattoirs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Guardian (International Edition)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aussie Farms says online map will allow consumers to make \u2018informed choices\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019_aussiefarms.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8551 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019_aussiefarms-300x180.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"415\" height=\"249\" srcset=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019_aussiefarms-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019_aussiefarms-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019_aussiefarms-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/2019_aussiefarms.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 415px) 100vw, 415px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The agriculture minister has appealed to an animal activist group to pull down a website showing the location of hundreds of farms and abattoirs across Australia over concerns it will promote vigilantism and trespassing.<\/p>\n<p>A group called Aussie Farms has published a satellite map showing the location of hundreds of farms and abattoirs and is encouraging people to upload photos and videos of animal exploitation.<\/p>\n<p>David Littleproud, has dismissed the group\u2019s activities as an \u201canonymous farm-shaming website\u201d with no real outcomes for animal welfare.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is farmers are doing nothing wrong. They are doing what is well within their legal rights and shouldn\u2019t have this hanging over them,\u201d the minister told reporters in Toowoomba.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-2 | 1\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\">Littleproud has sought advice about the legality of the map from his department, but early indications show that it may be within the law.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is that the federal government may have little recourse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI ask them to look into their own soul and do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He flagged a possible investigation into the group\u2019s charity status.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPutting the locations of farms online could be creating an attack map for activists \u201cThis will potentially result in illegal behaviour by activists,\u201d Littleproud said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t know if the footage posted on this website is actually from the farm it is attributed to. Content such as graphic images or video can be uploaded and attached to any farm by anonymous users.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The National Farmers\u2019 Federation president, Fiona Simson, said the map was unacceptable and posed a security risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s about people going about their average daily business \u2026 and having vigilantes burst in on them supposedly just to check that everything is OK,\u201d she told ABC Radio on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what evidence there was that vigilantes were bursting in on farms, Simpson cited two examples by unknown activists \u2013 one at a property in the Glass House Mountains in Queensland and at the Gippy Goat cafe in west Gippsland Victoria. She did not suggest the Aussie Farms website was linked to those incidents.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-2 | 2\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-feature--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\">\n<p class=\"rich-link__title\">She said trespassing activists would also pose a biosecurity risk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Simson said the federation was exploring the legality of the map and wanted Facebook to shut down the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhere I think the line blurs is, when does activism turn into terrorism? That\u2019s what we are asking here now,\u201d she told ABC Radio National. \u201cBy putting online people\u2019s private details, by exposing people to anybody who wants to look it up online \u2026 We are crossing a line here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group has been around since 2014 and is based out of Ryde, New South Wales.<\/p>\n<p>Its objective is to \u201cend commercialised animal abuse and exploitation in Australian animal agriculture facilities by increasing industry transparency and educating the public about modern farming and slaughtering practices\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Simson insisted family farms were adhering to strict welfare standards and said activists caused stress to animals by coming in the middle of the night and shining lights on them and waking them up.<\/p>\n<p>She defended the federation\u2019s efforts to stamp out exploitation and said it would work with legitimate animal welfare groups.<\/p>\n<p>Aussie Farms has defended its tactics. The map project was developed over eight years shows the location of \u201cfactory farms, slaughterhouses and other animal exploitation facilities across Australia\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNaturally we\u2019re receiving a lot of backlash from farmers already, because for so long they\u2019ve been able to operate as they please, without scrutiny,\u201d the group said on Facebook.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"element element-rich-link element-rich-link--tag element--thumbnail element-rich-link--upgraded\" data-component=\"rich-link-tag\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-tag\">\n<div class=\"rich-link tone-news--item rich-link--pillar-news\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__container\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__header\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more\">\n<div class=\"rich-link__read-more-text\">A spokesman for Aussie Farms, Chris Delforce, dismissed the controversy, saying animal activists were peaceful and non-violent people and the map information was publicly available anyway.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cAll we trying to do is show the public, consumers of products, exactly what they are purchasing when they buy animal products,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is where they come from and this is what those animals go through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said every photo or video clip uploaded to the site was moderated first by a team of 10 people, unless it was from a trusted account.<\/p>\n<p>Delforce said the organisation contacted the suppliers of photos for verification purposes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cActivists have no interest in the homes of these farmers,\u201d he said. \u201cThe only thing we\u2019re interested in is the giant sheds where sometimes tens of thousands of animals are housed in horrible conditions for a very short life before brutal slaughter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Guardian (International Edition) Aussie Farms says online map will allow consumers to make \u2018informed choices\u2019 The agriculture minister has appealed to an animal activist group to pull down a website showing the location of hundreds of farms and abattoirs across Australia over concerns it will promote vigilantism and trespassing. A group called Aussie Farms &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2019\/01\/22\/animal-rights-group-accused-of-encouraging-illegal-behaviour-with-map-of-farms-and-abattoirs\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8551,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8549"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8553,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8549\/revisions\/8553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}