AN upset mother has revealed how activists befriended her young daughter in order to steal her chickens.
Kristin Ramey has reported the vile incident to police and told how the incident left her eight-year-old daughter and her family “unnerved”.
The four activists wandered onto her farm in Colorado, US, and asked the child if they could hold the chickens.
The proud little girl – who helped raise the birds -was happy to lost them and handed the birds to the group who then fled the farm with them.
Nearby a group of 40 animal rights activists wearing matching T-shirts were waiting to receive the birds.
“I’m really rattled and unnerved,” said Mrs Ramey who owns Long Shadow Farm in Berthoud, Colorado, with her husband, Larry.
“They walked right onto my property and grabbed the birds. I don’t feel safe.”
She said when she confronted members of animal rights group Denver Baby Animal Save and Direct Action Everywhere Colorado, they admitted stealing the chickens and had taken them to a sanctuary.
Long Shadow Farm treats animals humanely and they are given free range over pastures, fed appropriate diets and slaughtered away from large, so-called factory farms.
But that is not good enough for the activists.
Spokesman for the Denver group Aiden Cook said: “We seek out places that are selling what we call the ‘humane myth’ or ‘humane lie,’
“It’s this idea that if you treat them the right way then there is an ethical way to exploit and kill animals.”
After the group took the chickens, Ramey contacted the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, which is now investigating several felony allegations including trespassing, attempted theft of livestock and theft of livestock, said sheriff’s office spokesman David Moore.
The Rameys raise lambs, chickens, ducks and turkeys on their six-acre farm which provides their livelihood.
The animals are pasture-raised and the farm does not debeak chickens — nor does it clip their wings, toenails or spurs, Ramey said.
Poultry birds are killed on site, which Ramey said eliminates the need to pack them onto trucks and move them to another location, an experience that she said can be stressful for the birds.
“They get to be the animals that they’re meant to be,” she said.
“And we are meat eaters. I respect folks that don’t want to eat meat just as much as I hope they respect the fact that I do.”
She said she hopes to get the chickens back — one of them belonged to one of her clients and is a rooster that will have trouble withstanding a cold Colorado winter.
The two hens that were taken also have been exposed to a contagious respiratory disease, and she said that could put the other birds at the sanctuary at risk.
Activists from the group broadcast a live video on Facebook after what they called a rescue of the chickens.
They held hands, said their names and explained why they felt what they were doing was important.
