Militant vegans target dairy farmer and his young children

Militant vegans have targeted a dairy farmer and his children with ‘five solid days of death threats’ after he posted a picture of his new triplet calves on Facebook.

Activists have sent hundreds of chilling threats on social media to parents Jonathan, 37, and Dulcie Crickmore, 35, who run Fen Farm Dairy in Bungay, Suffolk.

The vegans became enraged after seeing a post about the eco-friendly couple’s new calves – and even targeted their two young children, Arthur and Ottilie.

Activists have sent hundreds of chilling threats on social media to dairy farmer Jonathan Crickmore (pictured), who runs Fen Farm Dairy in Bungay, Suffolk

The vegans have also targeted Dulcie Crickmore (pictured) and the couple's two children

The vegans have also targeted Dulcie Crickmore (pictured) and the couple’s two children

But the onslaught has backfired as the award-winning farmers have been backed by nearly 1,000 five-star reviews – and sales have soared.

Mr Crickmore said: ‘We have had some really horrible comments. It kicked off from a post we put on Facebook and Twitter when we had calf triplets born.

‘We put a message out and some vegans found it and posted it onto these activist groups in America – and within a few hours last Thursday it escalated.’ 

Speaking to the East Anglian Daily Times, he added: ‘They sent loads of questions across to us but we didn’t reply to any of them. It just got worse and worse.’

The vegans became enraged after seeing a Facebook post about the eco-friendly couple's new calves, which has since been deleted. However a similar Instagram post is still live (above)

The vegans became enraged after seeing a Facebook post about the eco-friendly couple’s new calves, which has since been deleted. However a similar Instagram post is still live (above)

The award-winning farmers have been backed by five-star reviews - and sales have soared

The award-winning farmers have been backed by five-star reviews – and sales have soared

Mr Crickmore, who is committed to green environmentally-friendly farming, said he was forced to block hundreds of vegans after being overwhelmed by the abuse.

He also reported the attacks to Suffolk Police and an officer went out to see them.

‘I’m quite thick-skinned but my wife didn’t like it at all. We have been careful to lock all our doors, etc. We have never had nasty things like this said about us before.

‘A few of our customers even got abuse back as well,’ said Mr Crickmore, whose 880-acre farm produces natural whole raw milk and cheese. We chose to delete the post. 

Mr Crickmore won the  Best Artisan Producer award at last year's Great British Cheese Awards

Mr Crickmore won the Best Artisan Producer award at last year’s Great British Cheese Awards

The threats appear to have now disappeared from social media, but earlier this week another vegan supporter criticised the dairy farm

The threats appear to have now disappeared from social media, but earlier this week another vegan supporter criticised the dairy farm

‘We wrote a new post explaining to everyone who had seen this what we do at our farm and off the back of that this post got shared over 400 times.’

He said they had been thrilled and reassured by a massive positive online response from both customers and the wider public.

‘We went from 30 five-star reviews to over 850,’ said Mr Crickmore. ‘Our sales are up and people have found us through all this nasty stuff.’

A Vegan Society spokesman said: ‘Veganism rejects violence and encourages compassion towards living beings and this incident is not representative of the vegan movement as a whole.

Mr Crickmore, who is committed to green environmentally-friendly farming, said he was forced to block hundreds of vegans after being overwhelmed by the abuse

Mr Crickmore, who is committed to green environmentally-friendly farming, said he was forced to block hundreds of vegans after being overwhelmed by the abuse

Mr Crickmore posted on Facebook that he was trying to keep up with the abusive messages

Mr Crickmore posted on Facebook that he was trying to keep up with the abusive messages

‘We certainly condemn any threats of violence and encourage vegan activists to share their messages peacefully and positively. Vegans rely on farmers for food. 

‘We are not against them. But we do want to see an end to animal agriculture as a whole and a transition to a more sustainable, healthier and compassionate farming system.’

Mr Crickmore won the highly-coveted Best Artisan Producer award at the Great British Cheese Awards last October.

He was given the prize just days after scooping Farmer’s Weekly prestigious Diversification Farmer of the Year Award.

How death threats to farmers by militant vegans are on the rise

Death threats to farmers by militant vegans have been on the rise in recent weeks. Protesters have also trespassed and vandalised farms with graffiti.

Threats from activists are becoming such a problem that the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers has met counter-terror police to plan a response.

Pig farmers have reported being woken up at night by activists, and battling vegan activism is one of the National Pig Association’s priorities for 2018.

There are only 542,000 vegans in the UK, according to the Vegan Society, but many are now choosing to put pressure on both consumers and farmers.

On Wednesday, a militant vegan campaigner tore into Jeremy Vine on his BBC Radio 2 show for his ham sandwich lunch made ‘from the flesh of a dead pig’.

Former convict Joey Carbstrong, 31, an Australian vegan activist with tens of thousands of followers, lectured the presenter for the sandwich on the table.

The vocal campaigner from Adelaide is currently touring the UK and Ireland because he has an ‘obligation’ to convert meat eaters to veganism.



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