A U.K. poultry farmer was the victim of death threats after sharing a post on Facebook, but now he’s thanking the “vegan mafia” for drawing attention to his establishment.
“Come and pick your own Christmas turkey at the farm shop,” the Nov. 4 Greendale Farm Shop post read: “We will put a name tag on it and you come and feed it and help look after it for the next 2 months. You won’t need to get involved in any of the difficult bits at the end, and we will even bone and stuff it for you when you come and pick it up, in time for Christmas.”
The post, which suggested that a buyer will take care of a turkey for two months before sending it to slaughter, was met with ire from vegans.
“The ultimate betrayal. Looking after them, gaining their trust and then paying somebody else to slash their throats open for us because we don’t want to do the dirty work ourselves? How about we just leave them alone and eat something else?” one person wrote.
A more peaceful objector wrote, “Hopefully this will put people off eating meat as they make the connection between what they eat and who it once was.”
The post went viral, and Matt Carter and his staff at Greendale Farm Shop, in Exeter, England, started to receive death threats. The storefront was even spray painted, “MURDER! GO VEGAN!”
However, proving there’s no such thing as bad press, Carter has been selling 25 birds a day, instead of one or two as usual.
“People have wanted to support us, and the story has made some people [realize] we sell turkeys ready for Christmas,” he told the local Exmouth Journal.
He added: “This year, because of the extra publicity, we sold out of the free-range [turkeys]. It seems like although the vegan mafia wanted us to stop killing turkeys, it hasn’t happened. What has happened is people have decided to buy more and go for slightly better welfare turkeys, going for free range.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
- Wedding reception ends after groomsman accidentally stabs groom, falls from balcony
- Birds overdose on prescription pills dumped in a California park
- New Harry Potter Doll is getting props for its lifelike features: ‘Be still my heart’
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
