Animal right activists are back on the war path, at least in the Netherlands. Recent actions had nothing to do with the leather industry, but it is clear that the upstream part of our value chain, on which we depend for the supply of our raw materials, is extremely sensitive and open to criticism and attacks. The objective of the attacks were pig farms, where activists illegally entered and created havoc. They maintained that animals were badly treated at the farm in question and showed several of the animals with wounds. The most striking thing was that the police assumed a strange position, that of wanting to negotiate between the owners of the farm and the activists. In my view there is nothing to negotiate if people violently invade your property. Even if these activists proclaim to be against the exploitation of animals as a matter of principle and hence will never have a positive word to say about any business connected to raising animals, except of course their pets, one can and must pre-empt them by creating conditions inside the farms that will stand up to public scrutiny.
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