The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has sent a letter of complaint to the Daily Post following an unprecedented response from its membership in regard to a recent PETA advert in the Wednesday 24th March edition of the paper.
FUW members have expressed anger, frustration and disappointment that a paper that has a strong rural and farming audience would consider publishing an advert that encourages irresponsible and dangerous behaviour as does the PETA advert which asks for members of the public to report incidents of ill cows on UK Farms.
The letter states that encouraging the public to trespass on farmland is not just stressful to the animals, it is also dangerous for the person approaching livestock - especially as many cows will be with calves at this time of year.
It is entirely possible that individuals taking action as a result of this advert will misunderstand the situation and such misunderstandings could easily damage the reputation of the industry if the general public decide to share out of context videos and photos based on their partial understanding of what constitutes proper care for farm animals.
As a way of addressing such inappropriate advertisement, the FUW has requested for a full page for the farming industry to address the issue of trespassing on farmland and give the industry the opportunity to set the record straight on animal welfare issues outside of the standard farming section.
A conscious decision was made not to give further publicity to the advert through press releases or social media channels.