Animal Activism Amid Pandemic Pt 2
I’m Bob Larson. Animal activists are taking advantage of the difficult times we’re facing by playing to our already strained sensibilities, making claims that animal agriculture is unhealthy and abusive.Hannah Thompson-Weeman, with the Animal Agriculture Alliance, says even early in the pandemic when supply chain shutdowns forced the culling of animals …
THOMPSON-WEEMAN … “We’re seeing animal rights activists groups latch on to the type of supply chain issues really to state the message, if we aren’t processing these animals why are we raising them for food.”
All this, Hannah says while processors were trying to keep their essential workers safe …
THOMPSON-WEEMAN ... “It’s of course not possible to completely eliminate any type of risk, but meat and poultry processing plants have absolutely taken steps to address density of employees, having safety measures in place, temperature checks, all of those types of things to make sure that they are reducing the risk on their employees who are absolutely essential front-line hero’s in keep our food chain flowing.”
But so far, Hannah says we’ve managed to fight through it …
THOMPSON-WEEMAN … “We’re celebrating the steps that all of our members have taken, whether it’s farmers who have again adapted to an ever-changing climate, or our members at our processing companies that again have faced really high challenges while staying operational and keeping food available to consumers.”
Listen tomorrow for more on the challenges facing animal agriculture faces and why they’ll survive.