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Farmers are advised to be cautious when hiring new staff after it emerged that at least one dairy farm has been targeted by animal rights activists.
A dairy farmer from Leinster became suspicious when someone with no experience responded to a job advert that had been placed online. The applicant said he was from Dublin and was willing to learn.
The farmer initially said this would be no problem. However, a search of the applicant’s social media profiles revealed that he had “obvious” links to vegan organisations.
While it is not clear that the applicant meant any harm, the farmer was wary and declined to offer the job to him.
They are pretending to look for work and even will work for low or no wages
A message circulating among farming groups is warning farmers to “beware of the vegan community who are presently trying to get their members on to farms to secretly film work practices. They are pretending to look for work and even will work for low or no wages”.
This has been carried out in other countries. Last autumn, the Scottish Society for Protection of Cruelty to Animals received a formal complaint from PETA Asia over animal abuse in the wool industry.
A PETA member secretly filmed footage of sheep being shorn while working with a shearing company.
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